Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO) has launched its long-awaited incubator programme for technology startups in a move that officials hope will make the free zone a regional hub for Arab entrepreneurs.
There are only a handful of technology incubators across the Middle East such as the Oasis-500 initiative in Amman and AppsArabia in Abu Dhabi's twofour54, but there has been increasing demand in the UAE to facilitate the development on new startups.
The incubator programme will be focused on a "six by six" strategy that will model what other integrated technology zones such as Singapore and Shanghai has produced.
The plans centre around tying the development of six technology sectors such as mobile applications, semiconductors, data centres and internet firms with major businesses, universities and government departments in the region.
For every startup that is granted access to the incubator programme, the free zone will retain a 10 per cent equity stake with the option to invest more after the first year.
"It will be a fully functioning technology incubator that will focus on our ... six technology areas where a lot of our entrepreneurs and startups come to us focused on," said Ray Milhem, the chief technology officer of the DSO.
"Right now, we're in the very early stages. We've announced the incubator, we have the physical space and we'll be having the website up and running in the next few weeks."
