The Competitiveness Office of Abu Dhabi, part of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (Added), has launched a new programme aimed at helping innovators turn their ideas into commercial projects.
The Abu Dhabi innovation incubators programme will support a “diversified, robust, smart and sustainable economy”, Added said on Friday.
It is part of the 14 initiatives under the “Abu Dhabi Innovates” programme that was launched in May to boost the emirate's innovation ecosystem.
The new programme focuses on developing clusters with high growth potential including the Internet of Things, data centres, cloud services, e-commerce, smart manufacturing, clinical research, asset management, commodity trading, tourism, FinTech, and AgriTech.
It will enhance the innovation ecosystem, support the development of business environment and strengthen Abu Dhabi’s status regionally and globally, said Sameh Al Qubaisi, director general of economic affairs at Added.
“This programme ... [also] provides regulatory and institutional frameworks that support innovation and research and development in vital economic sectors," he said.
“This will be achieved by following a set of policies and regulations to ensure that innovation incubators are well equipped and have the right operating model to support innovators at different stages.”
Abu Dhabi’s economy rebounded strongly last year on the back of government measures to curb the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The growth momentum carried into this year has picked up pace and the emirate’s economy is expected to grow by 6 per cent to 8 per cent over the next two years, Mohammed Al Shorafa, chairman of Added, said in April.
S&P expects Abu Dhabi's economy to accelerate to more than 5 per cent in 2022, with output reaching 2019 levels in 2023.
Innovation incubators are among the top drivers that encourage individuals and provide incentives. They support and convert ideas or scientific inventions into commercial opportunities.
This programme is in line with Added’s commitment to support and develop prosperous projects and provide regulatory and institutional frameworks that support innovation and research and development in vital economic sectors.
Sameh Al Qubaisi,
Added’s director general of economic affairs
Public and private institutions that are investing in innovative technical solutions and supporting research and development are eligible to earn innovation incubator licences, after a thorough review by experts, Added said.
In the past, various academic and private institutions were granted incubator licences. They include Khalifa University, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi University, Higher College of Technology, Khwarizmi International College, New York University Abu Dhabi, Plug and Play and Fat6lab.
“The programme will also facilitate access to financing opportunities and business deals as well as encouraging entrepreneurs and investors to deal with trusted incubators, select innovations to invest in and support innovators to navigate their way through challenges to success,” said Hala Al Ameri, executive director of the Competitiveness Office of Abu Dhabi.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The specs
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THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
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Price: From Dh590,000
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War by Thomas J. Brennan and Finbarr O’Reilly
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
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The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
What can victims do?
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Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
The specs
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
TCL INFO
Teams:
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
When December 14-17
THE SPECS
Engine: 4.4-litre V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 523hp
Torque: 750Nm
Price: Dh469,000
