AWS and Masdar City Free Zone collaborate to accelerate the growth of UAE startups

• Masdar City Free Zone start-ups will gain access to AWS Activate and access to technical support to help build and scale their companies.
• New programme comes as a sequel to previous collaborations between AWS and Masdar City – including an MoU to stage Amazon Web Services (AWS) International Exchange Sprint (IES) during COP28.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – 19 January 2023

Masdar City, Abu Dhabi’s pioneering sustainable community and innovation hub, is collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to empower startups to build scalable and secure cloud-based services that accelerate their growth. Announced at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2023, the collaboration offers startups acce­ss to AWS Activate, a program that provides tools and resources to help startups innovate and scale faster.

Masdar City Free Zone startups may receive up to $100,000 worth of AWS Activate credits, in addition to AWS Support credits. They will also have access to technical support and architectural guidance from AWS Cloud support engineers, as well as technical and business trainings delivered by AWS experts. Through AWS, startups will gain an opportunity to experiment frequently and optimize business performance, while reducing technology costs.

Amier Al Awadhi, Acting Director of Masdar City Free Zone, said: “Masdar City’s accelerator programs are committed to facilitating the growth of entrepreneurs in alignment with the UAE leadership’s strategic vision. Collaborating with AWS helps us serve businesses more efficiently and ensure that startups at Masdar City Free Zone operate in a highly secure and available space. AWS has more security certifications than any other cloud provider, bringing our customers a peace of mind that couldn’t be achieved with another cloud platform.”

AWS offers more than 200 fully featured services for computer, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management, AWS provides the world’s most comprehensive and widely adopted cloud offering.

Wojciech Bajda, Director Public Sector Middle East and Africa, AWS, said: “Our collaboration with Masdar City Free Zone will strengthen its accelerator programs to provide high reliability and elasticity, helping startups achieve their business ambitions through technology innovation, and supporting their expansion and long-term growth. AWS Activate offers a world-class cloud infrastructure with personalized tools and resources to empower startups to scale seamlessly with their growth.”

Masdar City Free Zone is home to over 900 companies working across key sectors such as renewable energy, artificial intelligence, mobility, energy storage, water efficiency, health, agriculture, space, and sustainable urban development. The new collaboration builds on previous collaborations, including a key MoU signed during COP27 to hold an International Exchange Sprint (IES) in the UAE as part of Amazon Web Services’ Clean Energy Accelerator 3.0. The MOU will deliver an AWS Clean Energy Accelerator 3.0 (CEA 3.0) IES to Masdar City in 2023, corresponding with COP28 in the UAE. CEA 3.0 is a fast-paced, non-equity dilutive accelerator program that supports clean energy technology innovation through a unique mentorship and co-innovation engagement.