Intelak Hub set up to support travel, tourism startups in Dubai

A new startup hub dedicated to the aviation and tourism industries is set to launch in Dubai. Intelak Hub is sponsored by principal partners Emirates Group, Dubai Tourism, Accenture and Microsoft.

Intelak Hub merges the operations of the former Intelak Incubator and Idea Lab with the Futurism Accelerator programme, seeking to support startups with the structure, coaching, tools and resources needed to succeed in the travel and tourism industries, its proponents say.

It programmes consist of three different tracks. Intelak Idea Lab is a three-week programme targeting young Emiratis as part of the UAE’s vision to develop and support home-grown entrepreneurship.

Second is Intelak Incubator, a 12-week programme for earlystage start-ups offering equity-free funding, market feasibility guidance, pitch deck advisement, and demo day showcases where Dubai is used as a proof-of-concept for their solutions.

Lastly, Intelak Accelerator offers an eight-week programme for late-stage startups looking to scale their businesses, offering go-to-market counsel, access to partner ecosystems to test and implement their solutions, exhibition space and pitching and investor opportunities at GITEX Future Stars.

Over the past four years, previously independent programmes Intelak Incubator, Idea Lab and the Futurism Accelerator have invested Dhs1.4m in equity-free funding to startups.

Now united under Intelak Hub, these programmes will continue to invest in the startup community, offering cohorts under the new brand.

All cohort programmes will have a hybrid structure consisting of physical and digital components.

Startups do not need to be based in Dubai to take part in the incubator or accelerator programmes.

“Moving forward, we believe the Intelak Hub can play a key role in building the innovation pipeline for our industry, and further establishing Dubai as the global hub for travel and aviation,” said Alex Alexander, CTO Emirates Group.