Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO), the special economic zone for knowledge and innovation and a member of the Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ), received four accolades from Financial Times’ fDi Magazine Global Free Zones of the Year Awards, including – the Middle East Free Zone of the Year for Innovation Zones. It was also voted ‘Highly Commended’ in the associated Global category for innovation Zones, ranking seventh in the Top 10 Global Free Zones of the Year 2024, and received an honourable mention for Digital Innovation, bringing the total awards to four.

The Middle East Free Zone of the Year for Innovation Zones award serves as a testament to DSO’s exceptional performance throughout 2024 and its efforts to support and enable the success of its ecosystem and business community.

Commenting on the award, Dr. Juma Al Matrooshi, Director General of DSO, said: “Dubai Silicon Oasis is one of five urban centres under the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan, focused on science and technology and knowledge to drive innovation and digital economy development. The fDi’s Global Free Zones of the Year awards for 2024 is recognition of our efforts to play the role we’ve been trusted with in reinforcing Dubai’s competitiveness as a global destination. Our endeavour to build a thriving innovation-based ecosystem that attracts companies of all sizes across industries is evident in the robust infrastructure DSO offers to its partners.”

Chris Knight, Managing Director of fDi Intelligence, stated, “I congratulate Dubai Silicon Oasis on its continued presence in this year’s global leaderboard as a Top 10 ranked Free Zone and the regional leader as an Innovation Zone. An achievement fuelled by its unrivalled strategy focused on knowledge and innovation, the free zone is dedicated to fostering cutting edge innovation across the industries of the future, resulting in pioneering collaboration initiatives with such global luminaries as MIT, Start2 Group and Dubai Future Foundation. I congratulate DSO on a fine achievement!”

Notably, UAE free zones claimed six spots on the list of fDi’s Top 10 Global Free Zones of the Year 2024. Over sixty free zones from across the world were assessed against a set of multidisciplinary criteria. The awards were assessed by a judging panel, which included five external judges and one from fDi. As a reflection of the evolution of free zones, this year’s awards were adjusted to consider the specialisation of different free zones whilst a global top 10 ranking was created as a reference to combine each of these four categories.