New UAE Ambassador to Israel and Start-Up Nation Central launch joint task-force

The first UAE Ambassador to Israel, His Excellency, Ambassador Mohamed al Khaja, visited Start-Up Nation Central Headquarters in Tel Aviv to launch an official partnership to further advance the collaboration focused on innovation and entrepreneurship between the two nations. The plan is to create a joint task-force aimed at bringing people together, share ideas and generate economic value for both countries.

The Ambassador and Prof. Eugene Kandel, CEO of Start-Up Nation Central, discussed areas of collaboration, including joint events, conferences, as well as ongoing meetings and programs to help both sides learn about each other’s tech ecosystems. The teams from the embassy and Start-Up Nation Central also discussed ways of connecting Emirati and Israeli companies and entrepreneurs, especially in the fields of fintech, agri-food tech, education, cyber, education, digital health, energy, petrochemicals, cleantech and sustainability.

The parties agreed to leverage the UAE-IL Tech Zone community as a part of the new relationship. Launched in December 2020, the UAE-IL Tech Zone is an innovation community designed to enable practical collaboration between the two ecosystems. With already over 1,000 members, the UAE-IL Tech Zone invites entrepreneurs, senior business executives, government officials and technology companies to join this community and cultivate the talent and resources shared by the UAE and Israel.

“In terms of tech cooperation there is an avenue of opportunities between the UAE and Israel just waiting to be harnessed," said Ambassador Mohamed al Khaja. "We are here to identify what sectors can prosper in the field of technological innovation and bridge together key partnerships that will thrive in the world market with contagious success. Israel's tech innovation ecosystem coupled with the future forward drive of the UAE government, are essential elements to accelerating the success of incubators through the formation of international partnerships."

Prof. Eugene Kandel, CEO of Start-Up Nation Central noted, “We are proud to partner with the Ambassador and the UAE government to help advance the collaboration between our two countries. Start-Up Nation Central is an objective gateway to Israeli innovation tech ecosystem, and we are excited to play a major role in taking advantage of the historic opportunity presented by the Abraham Accords to connect UAE and Israel around technological innovation and create an immense value."

Established in 2013, Start-Up Nation Central is a non-profit organization that helps tackle global challenges by connecting Israeli technological solutions with multinational corporations, governments, investors, and NGOs from around the world.