Etisalat Digital signed strategic partnerships with four scale-ups as part of the Dubai Future Accelerators Program, the world’s largest government-supported accelerator.
The 4th cohort of the Dubai Future Accelerators was launched in March 2018 with the participation of Etisalat Digital and other government bodies and in cooperation with the world’s most innovative companies.
That the program basically does is that it pairs innovative scale-ups across global markets with the Dubai government entities and allows them to build, test and deploy solutions for 21st-century challenges.
Franciso Salcedo, Senior Vice President, Etisalat Digital, said: “We are pleased to be part of the fourth cohort and partner with these pioneering companies to provide them with a platform to showcase their innovation and digital capabilities to such a global audience. This accelerator programme helps them engage with our experts, have access to our network, utilize our digital technologies to build viable products and new revenue streams, and bring to reality these new solutions that will help transform our visitor and customer experience.
Franciso also adds that Etisalat Digital’s active participation in this program is in line with their efforts and investments that are focused towards the development of smart city technologies, creating digital solutions, nurturing entrepreneurship and providing the right platform to accelerate, innovate, and achieve the UAE’s digital vision.”
As part of their program, Etisalat Digital launched two challenges to companies around the world in January 2018. These companies had the chance to network with stakeholders and also had access to resources and expertise from Etisalat Digital.
Mobiliya, Digicomm, and Sturfee were selected to address the first challenge aimed at transforming the experience of visitors, like students, residents, leisure and business tourists, of city attractions, such as Expo2020, museums, libraries, and landmarks by leveraging extended reality, augmented/virtual reality, and artificial intelligence at every stage of the visitor journey by 2021.
On the other hand, KocharTech was selected for the second challenge which aimed to accelerate Etisalat’s transformation to a digital telco by increasing customer adoption of digital self-care channels thereby enhancing customer experience and reducing 50 percent calls to Etisalat customer care over the next one year using artificial intelligence, analytics and insights, and machine learning.
The companies were shortlisted based on their capability to build and launch their core technology and ability to demonstrate traction and/or substantial use cases. Over the nine-week programme, Etisalat Digital engaged with the shortlisted companies – from ideation to prototyping and testing new innovative solutions.
Towards the end of the programme, Etisalat Digital signed MoUs with selected companies who will then be on board in the Etisalat Scale-Ups Program where they will receive access to Etisalat Digital resources and experts, office space, and support needed to deliver joint projects.
For more information about the program, read here.