Page 114 - KHALIFA FUND PR REPORT MAY 2025

5/12/25, 11:04 AM Abu Dhabi start-ups exhibit tech-driven products at Tokyo global conference | The National
HyveGeo, a bio and climate technology company that turns waste such as date tree remains into a biochar that can
transform dry desert sand into arable soil in one month, instead of five years naturally, needs funding to scale.

"The only way we can reach gigaton-scale removal and to green tens of thousands of hectares of desert for food
security is to work with partners," said HyveGeo chief executive Abdulaziz Bin Redha.

With his start-up still at seed stage, Mr Bein Redha is looking to the event to carry his green-tech to the next level.

"We're developing patents and IP, and looking to license this globally," he said, seeking investment in the anti-
desertification technology.

Wafa AL Ghallabi, a PhD student at the Mohammed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence and co-founder of
Nutri-tech company Nutrigenics Care & Lawa.ai, has raised more than Dh200,000 ($54,450) for her platform that uses
large language models to process more curated food health.

The chief executive of Abu Dhabi tech ecosystem Hub71 said it is not only UAE start-ups that benefit from the event.

"So you have more than 10 start-ups represented here at the pavilion, demonstrating their technologies, exploring
opportunities for them to access Japan," said Ahmad Alwan. "But on the flip side, you see a number of Abu Dhabi
entities here also presenting their offerings to the Japanese ecosystem, identifying great opportunities that we can
import back into Abu Dhabi.

"It could be in the form of setting up, but it's really forming relationships, identifying, perhaps investment opportunities,

corporate deal making opportunities and so forth," he added. "It's a two-way street."

Growing partnership
A wave of economic deals emerging from Abu Dhabi with global counterparts are helping the emirate and UAE nation
to set up greater business exchange and investment.

This is deliberate, according to the chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, as its part of its
strategy.

"We're expanding our economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with a lot of countries around the world. We've already
finalised, signed 27 and we're going ahead with signing further EPAs," said Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, chairman of the
department and The Abu Dhabi Global Market, at an event panel called Towards the Development of a Global
Ecosystem: The Challenges of Abu Dhabi and Tokyo.

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