DUBAI: The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) recently held the Environment and Business Majlis meeting for 2018, which was hosted at Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s headquarters and attended by His Excellency Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment,as well as members of the UAE start-up community.
The meeting, organised by Dubai Startup Hub, was attended by His Excellency Majid Al Shamsi, 1st Vice Chairman, Dubai Chamber; His Excellency Hamad Buamim, President & CEO,Dubai Chamber and representatives of six green start-ups from the UAE.
During the meeting, His Excellency Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi called on entrepreneurs to reach out to government entities in the UAE that can support their growth and development. He expressed the intention of the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment to cooperate with the private sector and support the success of start-ups with sustainable business ideas and initiatives.
His Excellency Dr. Al Zeyoudi stressed that innovation and technology play an important role in solving a range of today’s sustainability issues. “Innovation and technology generate a wide range of socio-economic values and create jobs, and therefore, innovation is at the heart of our development agenda to drive our economic diversification objectives,” he said.
Dr.Al Zeyoudi added that to keep pace with the nationwide drive towards innovation and to help realise the National Climate Change Plan 2050, MOCCAE pays utmost attention to fostering innovation among young people to ultimately create a widespread culture of innovation.
His Excellency explained that the Ministry organised the Climate Innovation Exchange (CLIX), on the sidelines of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week last January, as a platform to connect young entrepreneurs and innovators with potential investors to forge business partnerships. The platform was a huge success, as participating investors expressed their intent to initially invest $17.5 million in the presented ideas within the first year, while the total investment value is expected to reach $45.5 million within three years.
Addressing the Minister and participants, His Excellency Majid Al Shamsi, 1st Vice Chairman, Dubai Chamber, noted that there is huge potential for the UAE start-up community to play a major role in contributing towards the country’s sustainability vision by developing innovative business ideas and solutions that can reshape the future and add value to society.
H.E. Al Shamsi pointed out that start-ups, entrepreneurs and SMEs are a key focus of Dubai Chamber’s 2017-2021 strategy, and revealed that the Chamber has scaled up its support to this fast-growing segment over the last few years. He informed participants of the various benefits of participating in Chamber programmes and initiatives that support startups and entrepreneurs, namely Tejar Dubai, Dubai Startup Hub, Dubai Smartpreneur Competition and MarketAccess.
The start-ups – Tayar l Wavex, Junkbot, Smart Sensor Devices, Astron, Pure Harvest, and EcoSound- were given an opportunity to showcase their projects and solutions in the fields of air quality, food security and energy saving, while they also participated in an open and constructive dialogue with the minister, which focused on key challenges they have faced, as well as new business opportunities opening up in the market.
Dubai Startup Hub was established by Dubai Chamber in 2016 as an online platform to connect startups, entrepreneurs, developers, venture capitalists and students, enabling them to learn about new opportunities and create new partnerships that stimulate economic growth. News Desk
