News

The UAE Has Launched A Program To Assist 100 Startups

The Future 100 program marks the start of a series of government initiatives aimed at improving the UAE’s future preparedness across multiple sectors.

Published

3 years ago

December 7, 2022

Nour Nasir

the uae has launched a program to assist 100 startups

The United Arab Emirates is already making a name for itself as a startup hub for global tech companies. Now, however, a program has been launched to ensure that the region’s economy is fully future-proofed.

The program, known as Future 100, aims to help 100 prominent startups across a diverse range of technology sectors, including space travel, renewable and carbon-neutral energy, and other emerging tech. As the program develops, it’s hoped that a new economic model will emerge, aligning the UAE with emerging trends and creating a lasting, 50-year impact.

“The Ministry of Economy continues to support innovative future projects that promote the UAE’s global leading position on competitiveness indicators and supports it as an attractive destination for future projects from all over the world. It further enhances its position as a permanent hub for creativity and innovation, securing sustainable growth for the UAE’s national economy and creating new jobs through startups, especially in sectors pertaining to the new economic fields, such as space, renewable energy, fintech, and AI,” says Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of the Economy.

Also Read: Hub71’s Startup Ecosystem Now Boasts Over 200 Members

According to other government sources, the UAE Future 100 roadmap emphasizes the improvement of future preparedness. The initiative is meant to symbolize the future orientation of the UAE leadership, focusing on the economic growth of the region, raising the GDP, and boosting the performance of new economic sectors.

Over the past couple of years, the UAE has initiated several programs of this nature with the goal of creating a robust, future-focused economy. The National Program for Artificial Intelligence 2031, the Green Growth Strategy, the Energy Strategy 2050, the Emirates Blockchain Strategy and the Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution are just a few of the initiatives that highlight the region’s lofty goals.

News

At I/O 2026, Sundar Pichai Concedes AI Must Deliver Real Value

Gemini 3.5, a personal agent called Spark, agentic shopping, and Android XR eyewear are all aimed at making AI feel useful, not just impressive.

Published

6 days ago

May 20, 2026

Nour Nasir

at io 2026 sundar pichai concedes ai must deliver real value

Google

Google’s annual I/O developer conference (I/O 2026) has recently become a status update on the same question: can the company turn its AI spending into products people use every day? This year, chief executive Sundar Pichai described Google as being in a phase of hyper progress, while conceding this is the part of the cycle where people want to see real value in the products they use on a day-to-day basis.

The strategy on display was to push agents — AI systems that act on a user’s behalf — into nearly every Google product at once. Search now has an “intelligent search box” that returns generated explainer videos alongside links. Gmail, Docs, YouTube and Maps are gaining their own agent layers, including a Docs Live feature that turns spoken instructions into drafted text with citations.

Two new models, Gemini 3.5 and a cheaper Gemini 3.5 Flash, arrived the same day. Google says 900 million people now use Gemini, and that more than 50 billion images have been generated with it. The pricing tier names are likely to confuse buyers: a new AI Ultra plan launches at $100 a month, while the older Gemini AI Ultra drops from $250 to $200.

The flashier announcements were Gemini Omni, a video generator pitched as a more realistic answer to OpenAI’s discontinued Sora 2, and Gemini Spark, a personal agent that handles recurring tasks across a user’s Google account. A new universal shopping cart lets agents complete purchases across multiple retailers from inside Google itself, placing the company between the merchant and the buyer, and also owning the checkout.

Also Read: DJI Teases Dual-Camera Osmo Pocket 4P For 2026 Launch

Google also confirmed its Android XR eyewear, built with Samsung and frames from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Audio-only glasses ship this autumn; a display-equipped version, which would superimpose live translations into the wearer’s field of view, is still in development. Both sets translate, however only the display version shows you the result.

What Pichai did not resolve is the bargain underneath all this. An agent is only useful to the degree it knows your calendar, your inbox, your shopping history and your physical surroundings. Google has now confirmed that, in time, the same context may carry advertising.