Dubai SME, the agency of Dubai Economy mandated to develop the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, launched a specialised business incubator for innovative British projects in cooperation with the British Centres for Business (BCB) in Dubai.

The new incubator, as well as the partnership between Dubai SME and BCB, will contribute to strengthening Dubai as a destination for investment and entrepreneurship, regionally and internationally. It also underlines the attractiveness, competitiveness and advantages Dubai has in its business environment, legislative framework and infrastructure.

The new business incubator provides support and expansion for British SMEs pursuing innovations in new and emerging sectors, including information technology, e-commerce, digital economy, digital marketing, operations and logistics, and smart applications.

Dubai SME, through its Hamdan Innovation Incubator, introduced the accreditation programme for Incubators and Business Accelerators in line with the vision of the leadership to provide support, guidance and follow-up to emerging SMEs. The accreditation enables entrepreneurs and start-ups to incubate their ideas, and benefit from a range of services that help them flourish in the local and regional markets, thus contributing to the economy in Dubai and the UAE.

Abdul Baset Al Janahi, CEO of Dubai SME, said: “We are pleased to add BCB to our accredited Incubators and Business Accelerators and eventually bring them into the Dubai Business Incubator Network (DBIN). BCB will contribute to the efforts to stimulate and promote leadership in business, and support talents and innovations. The BCB incubator will add significantly to the achievements of other accredited incubators in Dubai in addition to strengthening the partnership between innovative British companies and our local start-ups.”

Dubai SME was able to add seven specialised business incubators to the DBIN, which it supervises, in different sectors including digital technology and robotics, design, sustainability in energy, water, building materials, transportation, and waste treatment.

Dubai SME also cooperated with a number of local and international learning centres and launched the first specialised incubators in the educational sector as part of transforming universities in Dubai into free economic and creative zones to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship as articulated in the 50-Year Charter of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The first school-level business incubator was also launched in Dubai under the Incubators and Business Accelerators accreditation programme.

Al Janahi added: “We are confident that the next stage will witness varied entrepreneurial initiatives across multiple sectors, including healthcare, logistics, e-commerce and the digital economy as well as new sectors, such as technologies related to food and agriculture. As a result, we will see more partnerships and the exchange of experiences between national and international companies and experts in addition to new investment opportunities in the local market.”

The Incubators and Business Accelerators accreditation programme seeks to provide the opportunity to expand investments in entrepreneurial ventures through promoting business incubators, accelerators, and co-working spaces. The initiative will lead to the establishment of the Dubai Business Incubator Network, which will be a resource and reference point for business incubation programmes in the country and attract more private sector investment into business incubators and accelerators.

Joe Hepworth, CEO of BCB, said: “We are delighted to become a formal part of the Dubai SME Incubator scheme as the next step in the BCB’s development in Dubai. We have been working closely with Dubai Economy since 2013, helping more than 45 companies become established in Dubai and generating more than AED 400 million in trade with the UK.”

The BCB incubator will organise training sessions on business development and promote networking as well as knowledge sharing between its members, experts and Emirati start-ups, in addition to enabling emerging projects to build partnerships and expand.