Nigeria To Assert Leadership Of African Startups Ecosystem At GITEX 2022
TECHDIGEST – Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and top destination for startup funding on the continnet, will be pulling its weight at this year’s GITEX GLOBAL – the most inclusive tech and startup event in Dubai next month.
GITEX GLOBAL 2022 and its seven co-located events will take place from 10-14 October 2022, its largest ever edition featuring more than 4,000 exhibitors from 80 countries spanning 25 fully booked halls at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).
Nigeria will be promoting more than 17 starttups inside the Nigeria Startup Pavilion the at North Star Dubai which was launched as GITEX Future Stars (GFS) in 2016. As renamed North Star Dubai in 2022, the startup gathering reflects the ongoing evolution of the global startup ecosystem, and the important role startups are play in advancing innovation and international business collaboration, says a DWTC statement.
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is managing Nigeria’s participation and has already inaugurated the Local Organising Committee (LOC) to ensure a successful outing for Nigeria at the event.
“We have made our impacts felt at the event, because the organisers of the event came to Nigeria to head talent hunt. They are sponsoring four of our startups to the event this year. GITEX is a strategic window that provides opportunity for exposure to the startup ecosystem because it opens opportunities for them to meet investors who are interested in their products,” said Director General of NITDA, Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.
The 42nd GITEX GLOBAL, organised by the DWTC, covers three additional halls this year, opening up two million sq. ft of ground-breaking applications covering AI, cloud computing, big data, web 3.0, blockchain, cybersecurity, metaverse, fintech, 6G, and future mobility, under the ‘Enter the Next Digital Universe’ theme.
This year, the world’s largest start-up event reflects this trend by bringing together more than 800 startup exhibitors from 60 countries with over 600 investors in a thriving innovative entrepreneur ecosystem.
North Star Dubai adds ‘Africa Fast 100’
Along with a specially curated matchmaking programme, North Star Dubai will for the first time introduce ‘Africa Fast 100’, the largest ever gathering of African start-ups to be hosted outside Africa, connecting investors with Unicorn prospects from the world’s second largest continent.
North Star Dubai’s highly popular Supernova four-day start-up competition also returns, inviting the best local, regional, and international start-ups to showcase their disruptive ideas and compete for the ultimate prize of US$200,000.
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As the host city, Dubai is one of the world’s most innovative and technologically advanced cities. GITEX GLOBAL is aligned with Dubai’s digital transformation strategy, based on cutting-edge applications in A.I., the metaverse, smart cities and attracting the best ICT talent and coders.
International footprint and power-packed conference programme
GITEX GLOBAL’s vast international footprint is underlined by the presence of 33 country pavilions, including new pavilions from Cyprus, Ethiopia, the European Union, Kuwait, Uganda, and Turkey. The United States, France, Germany, the UK, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Nigeria, and Brazil, are among those with increased presence to showcase their national technology prowess and leading innovations.
Inspirational insights and unparalleled knowledge sharing will also come to the fore, as 14 dedicated conference tracks deliver more than 500 hours of thought-provoking talks, case studies, industry trends, and workshops.
A stellar line-up of more than 1,000 government ministers, global technology leaders and experts will share their perspectives on major trends, from A.I., cloud computing, crypto, 6G, and the metaverse, to the new frontier of future mobility, from flying cars to electric aircraft.
More than before, GITEX GLOBAL 2022 is drawing participation of over 230 government entities leading strategic digital projects and public-private partnerships, 1,000 speakers across 14 conference verticals, and 800-plus start-ups seeking to become the next international Unicorn, GITEX GLOBAL 2022 will unite the world’s most influential ecosystems advancing business, economy, society and culture.
Seven co-located events including launches of Global DevSlam and X-VERSE
With a fully immersive deep dive into the digital universe, GITEX GLOBAL 2022’s returning co-located events include Ai Everything, North Star Dubai (formerly GITEX Future Stars), Fintech Surge, Future Blockchain Summit, and Marketing Mania.
Two new events will also launch this year: Global DevSlam, and X-VERSE. Committed to creating a thriving home in the UAE for international coders and developers and advancing the digital economy, Global DevSlam aims to connect 6,000 coders alongside developers from the world’s biggest tech companies, including Anaconda, AWS, Google, Instagram, Microsoft, Oracle and Red Hat.
Meanwhile, X-VERSE is set to be the world’s largest curated web 3.0 immersive journey providing a first-hand look into the greatest shifts and the most potentially disruptive industry applications of the metaverse – a network of 3D virtual worlds.
With nearly 25 real-world metaverse case-studies and never-seen-before virtual experiences across manufacturing, gaming, education, healthcare, retail and the future of work, X-VERSE will enable global enterprises to understand and adopt this nascent technological development.
