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- Why Dubai
Global Gateway
A futuristic and thriving hub for global trade
Fast Growth Market
Fostering business growth with its diversified economy
Long term vision
A city built on vision and ambition
Global financial hub
Dubai is equipped with a robust infrastructure for business growth
City of innovation
A leading centre for R&D in emerging industries
Thriving business community
Empowering companies to flourish and succeed
Industry guides
Explore Dubai’s key sectors and business opportunities within them
D33 Agenda
Dubai's Economic Agenda "D33" aims to double the size of Dubai's economy by 2033, making it one of the top 3 cities for living, investing, and working.
Expo City Dubai
Get a glimpse of what the city of the future has in store for businesses.
- A blueprint for cities of the future
- Setting up a business
Company set-up options
See a comparison of mainland and free-zone business options
Mainland companies
Details of setting up a mainland company in Dubai
Free zone companies
Learn about the benefits of Dubai's free zones
Employees and administration
Get your new Dubai business up and running
Regulations, laws and tax
Introduction to Dubai's rules and regulations
Support for SMEs
Funding and resources for start-ups and SMEs
Business set-up services
Access Dubai Government services for companies
Dubai Unified Licence
Find out all you need to know about the Dubai Unified Licence programme
- Investment
Why invest in Dubai
A global financial hub and a regional banking leader
Investment options
A break-down of some of the primary areas for investment
- Get in touch today
- Events
Dubai Calendar
Browse all upcoming business and leisure events
Plan a business event
Bringing your event to a global business hub
Plan a leisure event
Attracting audiences from around the world
Event tools and support
Helping organisers arrange successful events
Find an organiser
Browse a list of PCOs and DMCs in Dubai
Our trade show calendar
Come and meet us at these shows
Find a venue
Filter Dubai's venues based on your event requirements
- Dubai business events
- Live and work
Visas and entry
Find visa requirements by country and trip type
Work remotely
One-year Dubai virtual working and residency programme
Transport
Getting to and around one of the most connected cities
Practical information
Helpful information and tips for your stay
Accommodation
A wide range of options for short and long term stays
- Work remotely from Dubai
- Insights and resources
Insights and articles
Explore the latest articles and industry and market guides
- Contact us
General query
Get in touch if you have a general question
Open a business
Get assistance in opening a business in Dubai
Event ambassador programme
Apply for the Al Safeer Ambassador Programme
Support for leisure events
Enquire about sponsorship and services for leisure events
Support for business events
Enquire about sponsorship and services for business events
- Get in touch today
Related Sites
Visit DubaiInvest in DubaiTravel trade Study DubaiRetire in DubaiCorporate
Event Calendar
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Known as "the city of the future", Dubai is a leading centre for research and development (R&D) in emerging industries.
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- Visionary plans
- Facilitating innovation
- Blockchain
- Smart Dubai
- Dubai Future Foundation
- 3D Printing
- City of innovation
- Powered by tomorrow’s thinking
- Global hub for business growth
Visionary plans
With its forward-thinking focus, the emirate fosters an ecosystem for innovation and future-proofed business models. The city boasts a thriving community of start-up incubators and accelerators, as well as regulatory sandbox schemes for the development and testing of new tech business models.Dubai ranks number one globally for foreign direct investment (FDI) and technology transfer in the AI and robotics sectors. The emirate also has a progressive government agenda which is creating an experimental testbed for concepts in a live setting, including Hyperloop technologies and flying manned transport.
Dubai, a dynamic city where innovation drives new thinking and growth
Facilitating innovation
Dubai is shaping an enabling ecosystem to allow businesses across sectors to innovate. It has underlined this ambition with a raft of futuristic long-term strategies, across AI, blockchain, 3D printing and Internet of Things (IoT).
Smart Dubai continues to work to transform Dubai into a smart city and becoming the intelligent, responsive and personalised city of the future. Since its inception, the Smart Dubai Office has launched over 130 initiatives in partnership with government and private sector entities.
Dubai provides an environment of innovation for businesses of the future to grow
Blockchain
The Dubai Blockchain Strategy 2020 is one of the many initiatives with 24 Blockchain use cases currently implemented across eight key industry sectors including finance, education, real estate and more.
Growth in the blockchain market in 2018
Growth in the blockchain market in Dubai surpasses the global average of 19%.
Blockchain businesses
Over 1000 blockchain businesses are set up in Dubai as of 2020.
Smart Dubai
Smart Dubai 2021 set out a roadmap to transform Dubai into an intelligent, responsive and personalised city of the future.
Smart Dubai
Led by the Smart Dubai Office, the city has launched over 130 smart initiatives so far, saving the Dubai Government US$1.2 billion over the past 13 years, through shared infrastructure and shared smart services for 50 government entities.
Dubai Future Foundation
The Dubai Future Foundation aims to support the advancement of the city through a series of initiatives. The four Dubai Future Labs, launched in 2019 with the aim of driving enterprise and innovation in the emirate, are further evidence of a city determined to give priority to being at the global forefront of technology and science. Dubai Future Accelerators, extends entrepreneurs from around the world opportunities to collaborate with Dubai-based government entities as well as industry giants in a rotating 9-week programme.
The Foundation is also home to the region's first Affiliate Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution, in partnership with the World Economic Forum and focuses on developing policies that support the development of next generation technologies including Precision Medicine, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, and Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology.
Dubai Future Foundation Offices in DIFC
3D Printing
The city’s 3D printing agenda was launched to position Dubai as a hub for 3D printing technology. It focuses on three major sectors, namely construction, medical products and consumer products. Around 25% of the emirate’s buildings are expected to be 3D printed by 2030 under this ambitious programme.
Dubai also continues to drive the innovation agenda through forward thinking pursuits and the development of exponential thinking.
3D printed building
25% of UAE’s buildings are expected to be 3D printed by 2030.
City of innovation
The Global Innovation Index, GII, ranked UAE among the top 3 innovation economies in the Northern Africa and Western Asia region and 36th globally.
Dubai is also ranked in the top 20 of the most innovative cities in the world. Although Dubai is in its infancy compared to other global cities, the emirate reached an impressive 16th position out of 28 cities.
The emirate was noted as being especially strong in the field of output and performance, with the launch of new products and services and outputs of technology. It also scored well in government support and building the culture of innovation.
Reaching new heights, Burj Khalifa
Powered by tomorrow’s thinking
A spirit of creativity and innovation can be found across every sector of Dubai's diversified economy. It allows the city to embrace new ideas and adopt technologies in support of its strategy to build an improved and sustainable blueprint for modern cities.
Its agile regulatory framework allows it to be continually looking forward. These factors combined, continue to build an environment where creators and innovators are inspired and enabled.
25% of Dubai police force to be robotic by 2030. Robocop model in pilot use today - providing interactive key services to residents.
Global hub for business growth
Dubai is building smart, hyper-connected infrastructure to help drive the innovation agenda and ensure Dubai delivers sustained growth, resilient to global volatilities.
Backed by committed investment in key growth sectors and smart city development, Dubai seeks to consistently be ranked in the top five global centres for trade, logistics, tourism and finance.
Creating the future
"The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it, and execute it. It isn’t something you await, but rather create.“
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al MaktoumVice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai
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