Etisalat Digital today announced that it has 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', launched in March this year with the participation of Etisalat Digital and other government bodies and in cooperation with the world's most innovative companies, came to a close on xx May.

The program pairs innovative scale-ups from across global markets with the Dubai government entities allowing 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 program helps them engage with our experts, have access to our network, utilise 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.

"Etisalat Digital's participation with the Dubai Future Accelerators program is part of our efforts and investments focused on 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."

Etisalat Digital launched two challenges as part of the program to companies across the world in January this year. The companies had the opportunity to network with a number of key stakeholders and 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.

Sturfee, an artificial intelligence and satellite imaging company that delivers spatial awareness to cameras connected to smartphones, wearables, and autonomous drones and cars, is developing a solution with Etisalat Digital around a city-scale augmented reality experience.

Mobiliya are considered experts in end-to-end product engineering services involving device-to-cloud integration, security and solution development for emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Extended Reality, Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain.

Dubai-based leading technology powerhouse Digital Communication (DigiComm), which crafts digital immersive experiences for entertainment attractions and enterprises, is widely known for its award-winning projects, including the world's first VR Zoo at the Dubai Aquarium and Mission 828, a thrill-packed, height-themed Virtual Reality spy mission at the Burj Khalifa. Through their partnership with Etisalat Digital, they will develop Virtual Reality tours of major attractions in the UAE.​

The second challenge sought 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% calls to Etisalat customer care over the next one year using artificial intelligence, analytics and insights, and machine learning.

KocharTech, a company that builds solutions to help connected consumers drive full potential of a digital life with the use of latest technologies like Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, was selected for this challenge. It is offering an integrated solution to Etisalat with multiple technology stacks using Artificial Intelligence, SIM, Robotic process automation and Digital Enablement solutions for their subscribers.

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 program, Etisalat Digital engaged with the shortlisted companies – from ideation to prototyping and testing new innovative solutions.

Towards the end of the program, Etisalat Digital signed MoUs with selected companies who will then be on boarded 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.

Dubai Future Accelerators was launched in 2016 by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and the Chairman of Dubai Future Foundation under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai. The program is a government initiative that aims to bring the world's most exciting and transformative technology start-ups to Dubai to collaborate with local entities and find solutions for future challenges.