It's a place where start-ups come and mingle and do business with each other.
This is how Hans Christensen described the Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus (Dtec) during a tour around the Silicon Oasis for the Ai Everything Summit.
For startups and entrepreneurs looking for a flexible place to start their tech business in the heart of Dubai, Dtec offers a nurturing, supportive community from which to grow. The largest technology innovation hub in the MENA region, the 10,000 sqm creatively designed space hosts an integrated ecosystem, home to hundreds of startups, SMEs and technopreneurs from around the world.
“Dtec is best explained through our six pillar strategy. It starts with coworking catering to everything you need in that space. We are a free zone which means you can set up your legal structure with us, very few coworking spaces in the world that can do that. You can get your lease for a space. We cater to certain types of businesses we don’t cater to all types of tech companies. What you will find here is mainly software companies or portal companies doing some kind of e-commerce, web design or IT infrastructure.”
Christensen is the VP at Dtec where corporate innovation- corporates come to the centre trying to find startups innovating themselves- is encouraged.
VICE-president of the Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus, Hans Christensen, spoke to journalists during the Ai Everything Summit.
“The Intel Ignition Lab is one of the corporate innovation initiatives, we also have Thomson Reuters, IBM, Microsoft and Alibaba.”
Since its launch in March 2015, Dtec has grown to become home to more than 800 entrepreneurial companies that represent over 70 nationalities.
“There’s not a lot of government oversight. We do request companies to have audited financials every year but otherwise we don’t interfere much with your business.”
In 2016, Dtec became home to the Intelak incubator specialising in incubating start-ups in the aviation, tourism and travel tech sectors.
Dtec’s award-winning Dubai Smart City Accelerator is operated by Startupbootcamp, a global acceleration provider that is part of a worldwide network of 20-plus accelerators.
The programs offer intense, rapid, and immersive education aimed at accelerating the life cycle of young innovative companies, compressing years’ worth of learning-by-doing into just a few months. They also give entrepreneurs access to a network of mentors, advisers and educators, to get them rapidly ready to pitch to potential investors.
The Dubai Smart City Accelerator team travels around the world to meet the best start-ups within the Smart Cities space. Start-ups then have the opportunity to pitch directly to the scouting team and establish face-to-face connections with decision makers.
Dtec Ventures is the venture capital fund of Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority and part of Dtec. Dtec Ventures invests in early-stage technology companies in the MENA region with a nucleus to Dubai that are disrupting or enabling traditional industries including: Consumer Internet Enterprise Services, Digital Media, Cloud Computing, Commerce, Travel & Leisure, Ed-Tech and Mobile.
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