// REGIONAL ROUND-UP //

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AFRICA | APAC | EUROPE | MIDDLE EAST

| NORTH AMERICA

Organised by Dubai World Trade Centre and hosted by Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy , the powerhouse showcase reached the mark of 13,000 conciergearranged 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 startups 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 manoeuvrability .

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 a 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

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 .

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 AI wowed 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 . �

60 Intelligent SME . tech