Expand North Star 2024, one of the world’s largest start-up and investment events, attracted 1,800 start-ups, 1,200 investors managing assets exceeding US$1 trillion, 59 unicorns and thousands of visitors from over 100 countries, transforming Dubai Harbour into a bustling hub of cutting-edge technology and ground-breaking ideas.
Organised by Dubai World Trade Centre and hosted by Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy, the powerhouse showcase reached the mark of 13,000 concierge-arranged meetings and 88% of start-ups participating for the first time, offering unrivalled networking opportunities.
Global innovators shine at Expand North Star
Expand North Star 2024 became a global innovation hub, bringing start-ups from all corners of the world, from Europe, Asia, Africa and as far as Latin America, as they showcased next-gen technologies, from AI and quantum computing to sustainable transport and digital health solutions.
Debuting at the event, Austria’s CycloTech GmbH introduced CycloRotors, a sustainable, electrically powered propulsion system for air mobility vehicles, promising unmatched maneuverability.
German-based Clockin offered small businesses a simple digitalisation tool for managing time tracking, employee data and product management. Fabian Ebbert, CSO, Clockin, said: “Our tech is best for companies with deskless workforce of about 50 employees and provides solutions like time tracking, employee management and job cost management. We came to ENS to understand if there is a need for our product in the UAE, and it seems like ample small companies haven’t digitalised their processes yet. So, if things work out well with our new partners, we will expand here.”
From South Korea, EYL presented its Quantum Random Number Generation chip, strengthening IoT security by generating powerful encryption keys. Meanwhile, Physio showcased an AI-powered device for predicting and managing neurodegenerative diseases.
UAE’s Wamda AIwowed with its Sharp Vision camera system, mirroring human vision and extending operational range by up to 100 times, revolutionising industries like security and smart cities.
AI sparks interesting conversations on human creativity at marketing mania
As AI reshapes media and marketing, big questions loom about the future of human creativity. One of the panels highlighted how consumers must discern quality with an exponential growth in content creators and AI expected to disrupt the industry.
Sir Martin Sorrell, Founder & Executive Chairman of S4 Capital, UK,took it further and said: “Media planning and buying business will turn upside down. There are almost 250,000 people in the big firms who will not have jobs in the next three years for two reasons: their tasks are relatively inefficient and the second is a lack of transparency.” He closed with a compelling takeaway: “Learn three languages – Chinese, Spanish, Arabic and Code.”
This year also saw the debut of Sonar+D Creative Summit, set up in partnership with Sonar, which brought in a host of technological proposals in an exhibition space.