Inayat-ur-Rahman, Business Editor

Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO), the integrated free zone technology park, on Monday welcomed Dr Aman Puri, Consul General of India (CGI) in Dubai and Deputy Commissioner-General for India at Expo 2020 Dubai, touring the Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus (Dtec) and discussing collaboration opportunities between DSO, Dtec, and India Innovation Hub at the India Pavilion in Expo 2020 Dubai.

Dr Aman Puri was welcomed by Dr Juma Al Matrooshi, Director General of DSO, in the presence of Siddhartha Baraily, Consul, Head of Chancery and Ghanim Al Falasi, Senior Vice President of Technology and Entrepreneurship at DSO.

The delegation included six Indian start-ups with a focus on travel and tourism, presenting their ideas to be incubated at DSO.

Dr Aman Puri said: “The Government of India and the UAE are committed to working together to foster innovation between the two countries and contribute towards a sustainable world. India has emerged as an innovation hub with the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem with 42 Indian start-ups joining the Unicorn Club in 2021. The UAE is a global hub for expats and global businesses, which provides immense business opportunities for Indian talent. Innovation hub at India Pavilion, Expo 2020 Dubai has featured over 190 Indian start-ups.

“Elevate pitching series and interactions with prestigious organizations such as Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus, TiE Dubai among others, provided excellent opportunities for the Indian innovators to interact with investors, global counterparts for further networking and partnership.”

Dr Juma Al Matrooshi said: “UAE and India share deeply rooted bilateral relations and have been key trading partners for centuries. In the last few weeks of 2021, both nations concluded negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement that aims to boost non-oil trade to at least $100 billion over the next five years. In contribution to this ambitious plan, we aim to be a key enabler and incubator for start-ups and entrepreneurs, from all over the world, looking to expand into the region. Providing world-class facilities to streamline business set-up and operations, DSO is home to more than 1,000 companies from more than 75 countries.”

India Innovation Hub is a project at the Indian Pavilion in Expo 2020 Dubai wherein the pavilion is showcasing the top 500 most-reputed start-ups from India. The project is working under the guidance of Consul General of India in Dubai Dr Aman Puri, and with the support of Indian Diaspora and Prominent Investor Institutions. The project provides a platform to promote Start-up and Innovators of India, by providing them exposure to the global investors’ community through B2B events and activities like Elevate, pitching sessions.

The Indian start-up ecosystem today has over 60,000 DPIIT-registered start-ups from 628 districts across all 28 States and 8 Union Territories. India ranks in the top 50 countries in the Global Innovation Index (GII) and is the 3rd most start-up friendly country in the world (leading in Asia). Embodying the true spirit of a self-reliant India, and despite the extreme challenges posed by the global pandemic, 42 new unicorns came into existence in India in 2021, taking the total number of unicorns to 82. Today, India is the country which in 2021 is amongst the top 3 creators of unicorns in the world.

Dtec which is wholly owned by DSO, offers coworking spaces, business accelerators, R&D facilities, event spaces and digital business setup support including licensing. It houses more than 1,000 startups from 75 countries. Dtec, DSO supports entrepreneurs, startups and innovators, especially those that operate in the technology, artificial intelligence and digitalisation spheres.