Innovation is the “weapon of choice” for the UAE as the country strives to foster greater entrepreneurship and welcome the launch of more start-ups, according to the Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Dr Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi.
Dr Al Falasi was delivering the keynote speech at the launch of the UAE Ministry of Economy and Ericsson’s Together Apart Hackathon, which will run through to March 31 next year and aims to accelerate the journey towards a more connected future, solving global challenges.
He said: “Our objective is to engage and empower entrepreneurs to participate in the national economy, growing the sector’s contribution to GDP. This, in turn, helps establish an attractive environment for even more entrepreneurs and innovative start-ups and companies, but also for foreign investors and business.
“Innovation is without a doubt our weapon of choice for this mission.”
The hackathon aims to attract new ideas and stimulate innovations, by engaging with the innovators, disruptors and creative people of the UAE to build technology-based solutions aligned with the UAE vision 2021 showcasing the power of 5G.
Dr Al Falasi believed that innovation and technology is the country’s “best bet” to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic “stronger than ever”.
Pointing towards the global financial crisis of 2008-09, he said organisations that maintained a focus on innovation emerged stronger. “They outperformed the market on average by more than 30 percent and continued to deliver accelerated growth for three-to-five years afterwards,” he said.
The federal government aims to increase the contribution of the SME sector to the national economy to around 60 percent this year, up from an estimated 54 percent in 2019. SMEs also contribute to 95 percent of the companies in the country and employ 86 percent of the total workforce in the non-oil private sector.
“Innovation thrives in the face of adversity. In fact, 85 percent of executives and tech companies today expect the pandemic to be one of the biggest opportunities for growth in the industry,” said Dr Al Falasi.
Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Dr Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi
“Our ambition compels us to rally innovators and bold dreamers and embrace avant-garde technologies. This is ultimately the objective of the UAE Vision, which aims to make the UAE among the best countries, in time for our 50th year anniversary,” he added.
Participants in the hackathon will seek to find innovative solutions in the six broad themes of the UAE’s Vision 2021 – world class healthcare and wellbeing, first rate education system: The ease of learning and access to education – future of education; competitive knowledge and digital economy, sustainable environment and infrastructure, safe public and fair judiciary; and cohesive society and preserved identity transcending physical borders.
The hackathon is open to all professional developers, programmers, designers, engineers, technopreneurs, university students and creative individuals from all private and public institutions based in the UAE.
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