New UAE innovation grant scheme; SDAIA's new smart city accelerator
Good morning!
Here’s your weekly roundup of Middle East AI News!
The UAE government launched an exciting new innovation fund this week, which will provide grants of up to $100,000 for innovators worldwide to pilot initiatives for the public sector in the UAE. The grant programme is not specific to AI, but nonetheless provides a great opportunity for developers of new AI applications that offer disruptive solutions for the public sector.
Meanwhile, the SDAIA also announced an interesting new initiative: a dedicated accelerator programme for smart city technology startups operated by Plug and Play.
Scroll down for these stories and more!
Stay safe and have a great weekend!
/Carrington
Startup News
UAE government launches 'Moonshot Pilot Grant' — www.wam.ae
#UAE #grants - Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation (MBRCGI) has launched a new public sector innovation fund to encourage top global experts to test their innovative ideas in the UAE's public sector. The Moonshot Pilot Grant will provide up to $100,000 per pilot to facilitate testing of initiatives, accelerating their development and implementation in the public sector. (Emirates News Agency)
SDAIA launches smart cities accelerator — www.linkedin.com
#Saudi #smartcities - Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) announced the T5 Accelerator this week, a new AI accelerator programme for smart cities operated by Plug and Play. The 12 week accelerator programme will focus on data and AI technologies for smart cities. (Linkedin)
FACEKI gets pre-Seed funding from Nama Ventures — www.wamda.com
#UAE #seedfunding - Facial recognition authentication platform. FACEKI has raised an undisclosed pre-Seed round from Nama Ventures, the Riyadh-headquartered seed stage venture capital fund. Founded in 2020, the digital biometrics startup helps organisations verify and onboard their users, protecting them against fraud. (WAMDA)
Wa’ed startup grants hit over $5.6m after third roadshow event — www.arabnews.com
#Saudi #seedfunding - Wa’ed, the entrepreneurship arm of Aramco, invested more than SR21 million ($5.6m) into Saudi-based startups. Mawidy, a deep tech startup utilizing artificial intelligence to enhance healthcare services, and Veem, a business-to-business AI-backed virtual commerce platform, were among those to receive seed funding. (Arab News)
Smart Cities
Huawei partners real estate developer Tatweer Misr to build smart cities in Egypt — africaincmag.com
#Egypt #smartcities - Tatweer Misr, a leading real estate development company, has signed an agreement with Huawei Technologies Egypt to deliver and smart software solutions throughout Tatweer Misr’s smart city projects. (Africa Inc)
Expo 2020 Dubai
Robots at Dubai Expo have multiple roles — english.alarabiya.net
#UAE #Expo2020Dubai - As Expo 2020 Dubai, the first World Expo ever held in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia (MEASA) region got underway last week, visitors to the purpose-built venue are being met with robots of various kinds. Terminus Group deployed more than 150 programmable robots to interact with visitors at the Expo. These robots include Opti, one of the robo-guardian’s Expo mascots. (Al Arabiya)
UBTECH Panda Robot turns heads at China Pavilion — www.bahrainnewsgazette.com
#UAE #Expo2020Dubai - Expo 2020 Dubai, the first world expo since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the first expo of its kind held in the Middle East, has officially opened on October 1st. During the event, UBTECH’s proprietary Panda Robot and Walker X, the large humanoid service robots, made their official appearance at the China Pavilion. (Bahrain News)
Defence
Iran’s armed-drone prowess reshapes security in Middle East — www.wsj.com
#Iran #drones - Tehran’s rapidly developing ability to build and deploy drones, some of which mimic designs used in the U.S. and Israeli militaries, is changing the security equation in a region already on edge. (Wall Street Journal)
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