Dubai has emerged in recent years as a magnet for investors and entrepreneurs across a swathe of industries – and it has proven especially attractive to businesses in industrial and high-tech sectors.

The emirate’s flagship industrial park, Dubai Industrial City (DIC), is home to 750 businesses alone, drawn to its comprehensive facilities, incentives like 0% income tax, and easy access to globally connected logistics.

This kind of infrastructure has made the UAE the world’s number one place to start a business, with the vast majority of investment flowing into Dubai specifically.

But this is just the beginning for the emirate. A raft of wide-ranging initiatives is pouring colossal investment into high-tech, sustainable manufacturing, making Dubai the ideal launchpad for future-facing industry.

The next great industrial hub

The Dubai Economic Agenda ‘D33’ is the emirate’s flagship industrial policy, promising to boost every area of Dubai’s economy. The scale of its ambition is matched only by the funds backing it.

By 2033, the emirate aims to scale up 400 businesses, and produce 30 unicorns. While broad in its range, D33 is heavily focused on manufacturing, tech and where they intertwine.

The strategy aims to add $43bn to Dubai’s economy from manufacturing and exports by 2030. This goal is supported by a dovetailing objective to become a top five global logistics hub, buttressed by a raft of UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPA), such as with India, Israel, Indonesia, and Turkey.

The objective leans into Dubai’s status as a global gateway, already home to comprehensive, multi-modal logistics infrastructure that includes Dubai International, the world’s 5th busiest airport, and Jebel Ali, the world’s 11th busiest container port, connected by road for rapid cargo transfer.

Both are less than 45 minutes’ drive from DIC. Both feature advanced facilities such as automated cranes and colossal cold storage warehouses. And both are investing in greater automation, utilizing AI, big data, and robotics to further improve logistics efficiency.

This focus on advanced technology will be amplified by the Green and Sustainable Industry Plan – part of the first phase of D33 – which seeks to revolutionize manufacturing and logistics efficiency, while reducing their environmental impact.

Drones, AI, robotics and blockchain

Digital Dubai – the agency responsible for the emirate’s digitization – has launched over 130 initiatives since 2021, spanning everything from public data and paperless offices to startup support and AI ethics.

This wide-ranging digitalization is visible in the panoply of cutting-edge technology being developed in the emirate – much of which is directed towards smart logistics.

In late 2023, Dubai-based logistics company Jeebly collaborated with India’s largest autonomous drone delivery company, Skye Air Mobility, on a groundbreaking three-week trial of last-mile drone delivery. The experiment was hosted at Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO), the specialized economic zone for innovation and knowledge, in partnership with Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) – which invests in R&D for leading-edge technology.

The trial demonstrated safe delivery of a range of consumer goods, as well as affirming deepening connections between India and Dubai following the UAE-India trade agreement.

Another DFF project is Dubai Future Labs (DFL), which aims to “bridge the gap between industry and academia” by developing AI and robotic solutions for a host of industrial issues. Projects so far include robots for warehouse picking and palletization, and autonomous electric vehicles for logistics, with much more in the pipeline.

DFL is located in the Dubai Experimental Zone, which, alongside its physical facilities, provides a regulatory sandbox in which to develop new solutions.

It’s indicative of the emirate’s broad approach to emerging technology, which extends beyond the eye-catchingly physical into administrative innovation such as the IBM-developed blockchain registry that unifies data between Dubai’s numerous free zones.

And in keeping with the emirate’s focus on sustainable industry, its support for advanced technology is matched by investment in clean energy to power it all.

Harnessing the sun

Due for completion in 2030, the $13.6 billion Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park will be one of the world’s largest photovoltaic solar parks, with a capacity of 5,000MW.

The park also hosts the Outdoor Testing Facility of the Dubai Energy and Water Authority (DEWA), where 10,000 square meters is given over the region’s first green hydrogen production facility, which is trialing a range of hydrogen-powered applications in a pioneering public-private partnership with Siemens.

In early 2024, DEWA announced that manufacturing businesses would be permitted to install their own solar capacity, for substantial cost savings, and progress towards global sustainability efforts.

And under Dubai’s Clean Energy Strategy, $27.2 billion in low-interest loans are available to clean-energy investors. A dedicated innovation center is under construction. And $136 million is being invested in R&D for smart grids, energy efficiency and solar power.

Launching the future

Dubai has already established itself as one of the best places in the world to start and grow a business, especially in advanced manufacturing.

With the scale of support coming from D33 and related initiatives, it is only becoming more powerful as a launchpad for the next generation future-facing industrialists looking to rapidly scale.