DeepMinds to build deep tech clusters

First deep tech venture studio launched to create new MENA deep tech ventures

#UAE #deeptech - DeepMinds, a new venture studio focused on the creation, assembly and scaling of new deep tech ventures in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) launched this month. Headquartered out of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), and with offices in Canada and South Korea, the venture studio aims to connect developers of new technology with opportunities, resources and funding to create successful new MENA deep tech ventures.

SO WHAT? - Deep tech in the Middle East and North Africa region has long been underserved, lacking knowledge, investment, ecosystems and incentives for new ventures. DeepMinds DeepTech Venture Studio aims to solve some of these issues, bringing together knowledgeable technology and business advisors to validate new concepts, and connect them to the opportunities, resources and funding they need to succeed. The company's overall goal is to develop new deep tech clusters around the region, that can produce technology to support key industrial sectors such as healthcare, defence and shipbuilding.

• DeepMinds aims to build clusters of successful deep tech ventures that help bolster technology transfer, optimise R&D and the commercialisation of intellectual property (IP), and catalyse deep tech business expansion across the MENA region.

• Starting eight months ago in stealth, DeepMinds drew together a cohort of 'enabling ventures', including ventures from medtech, smart manufacturing, shipbuilding and quantum computing. The studio's first ventures are HubForward, IPpad.co, Jeelup, Kamia, ProvenMed, Rdock and WizzTec

• DeepMinds is planning a DeepTech Venture Fund to invest in startups. However, the studio will validate and shape each venture investment for commercialisation and scaling.

• DeepMinds vision is to become a decentralised venture builder, creating deep tech clusters in different countries across MENA.

ZOOM OUT - Led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, GCC governments have recently prioritised both technology development and local production, in an attempt to diversify their economies, and increase budget spent at home. Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have boosted local defence manufacturing with an aim to spend 50% of defence expenditure within their respective countries. Meanwhile, the region is rapidly embracing Fourth Industrial Revolution industries, technology and manufacturing processes. For these reasons there is also a new focus on creating intellectual property at home, in order to maximise economic value from these industries.

Although Saudi Arabia and the UAE are able to fund large new industrial ventures and, in some cases, whole new industries, local manufacturing ecosystems will take years to catch up with the big government-backed plays. For example, Saudi's massive investment in a strategy to create a new electric vehicles export manufacturing sector, creates both the national capability and the export potential in the immediate future. However, new EV manufacturing plants in the Kingdom can be expected to import the majority of their components from Asia and other global markets. This creates opportunity for local component manufacturers.

IMO - DeepMinds concept addresses a significant gap in many government plans to develop IP and ramp up local production, which is the development of local component products and supply chains for new 4IR sectors. In addition, a local track record of success in deep tech in any Middle East country is going to help increase knowledge, talent and investment. Creating a startup programme model to effectively validate, build and commercialise new deep tech startups, could turn out to be the crucial step in making this happen.