Masdar City Free Zone and Amazon Web Services collaborate to accelerate growth of UAE start-ups

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

Masdar City Free Zone start-ups 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 training delivered by AWS experts. Through AWS, start-ups will gain an opportunity to experiment frequently and optimize business performance while reducing technology costs.

Amier Alawadhi, the 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 start-ups 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), and media and application development, deployment, and management. AWS provides the world's most comprehensive and widely adopted cloud offering.

Wojciech Bajda, the director of public sector Middle East and Africa at AWS, said, “Our collaboration with Masdar City Free Zone will strengthen its accelerator programs to provide high reliability and elasticity, helping start-ups 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 start-ups to scale seamlessly with their growth."

Masdar City Free Zone is home to over 1000 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.