Make it in the Emirates: MoIAT reveals startup pitch competition winners

The Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) has revealed the three startups that won the inaugural Make it in the Emirates startup pitch competition, part of the ministry’s efforts to support the development and commercialisation of technology in the UAE.

The first, second and third place winners received Dhs100,000, Dhs70,000 and Dhs50,000, respectively, to scale up and grow their businesses. Twenty-four startups were shortlisted to participate in the competition by a panel of industry experts from a pool of almost 400 submissions, 60 per cent of which were from overseas.

“As a hub for innovation, science and technology, the UAE provides the ideal platform for technology start-ups to pilot new concepts and scale breakthrough solutions that address challenges such as climate change as well as support economic growth,” said Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Public Education and Advanced Technology.

The first winner was VFlow Tech, a Singaporean startup that provides innovative, reliable and large-scale storage solutions using flow batteries to unlock the full power of renewables.

The second winner was The Food Engine, a UAE-based startup that has developed an automated vertical aeroponic farming system that uses 90 per cent less water than traditional agriculture.

The third winner was Farmin, a spin-off of Khalifa University that uses satellite imagery super-resolution along with artificial intelligence (AI) to acquire critical and predictive insights that can provide highly accurate AI models to detect changes down to four square metres.

Make it in the Emirates startup pitch competition

The Make it in the Emirates Startup Competition, launched by MoIAT, brought together local and international technology startups that have the potential to drive the decarbonisation and digitalisation of the industry to pitch their ideas to investors and industry players.

The competition invited transformative companies seeking to have a global impact to showcase and pitch new innovations and technologies. The competition also provided the startups with the opportunity to further develop and deploy their technologies in the UAE in collaboration with various industry partners, some of which committed to deploying pilot projects with the winning startups.

Startups from around the world, including from the UAE, Japan, Germany, Korea, Singapore, India, the UK and the US submitted applications. The competition was stiff with entrepreneurs pitching their technologies in front of major national institutions, industry leaders, investors, incubators and technology experts.

“This competition is part of the ministry’s efforts to support the development and commercialisation of technology in the UAE in line with the Technology Transformation Programme and the UAE Net Zero strategy,” added Al Amiri.

“Not only do these efforts help to create economic value, but they also play an important role in fostering potentially game-changing technologies that can drive climate action and boost our decarbonisation efforts.”

Applicants included startups focused on fields such as renewable energy, transportation and mobility, AI and robotics, biopharma, thermal management, agriculture, consumer goods, advanced materials, manufacturing, construction and utilities, and graphene.

Judging criteria

The judging panel comprised representatives from Aspire, EDGE Group, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, Technology Innovation Institute, Dubai Industrial City, UAE University, Catalyst, Yokogawa, Halliday Growth, MODUS Capital, HUB71, Schneider Electric, and Strata.

Startups were evaluated on the innovation they demonstrated, their disruptive potential, their scalability and sustainability, as well as their marketing potential, competitive advantage, and positive social impact.

All the competing startups were able to connect with industry partners, investors, and other stakeholders during the Make it in the Emirates Forum – where they also gained insights on commercialising and upscaling new technologies.