Joining London Conference (The Next Game Changers) By UK Embassy Sponsorship
Six promising Arab entrepreneurs toured London last week with the British embassy’s UK Tech Hub, giving them direct access to top business leaders and investors. The British embassy hopes that the innovators will be creating the next success stories of the Arab society’s booming tech scene, through partnering with British companies.
The six innovators arrived in London following a collaboration between the embassy and accelerator programmes active in the Arab society. The innovators were awarded special prizes by the British embassy, in recognition of the potential of their ventures to succeed in the UK.
The participants were Mohammad Kabajah, Senior Software Technology Leader and Engineer at PointGrab,Inventors of 5 inventions, Entrepreneur for two startups and winner of 2016 Makeathon Go in Nazareth, where he developed a footwear sensor that tracks and assesses ergonomics (Brainsole); Rami Shacour and Ehab Shacour, CEO and CTO of medical startup Innosphere, which offers revolutionary wearable device for treating ADHD, and were the highest rated participants of the LEAP Haifa accelerator; Mahmood Kanana and Muhamed Masalha from the startup Magical Snoreless, which developed devices for treating snoring and sleep apneas, and took part in the HybCrid programmeby the Nazareth Business Incubator Center and the 8200 Alumni Association; Amru Daudfrom the blockchain startup Stagira, who joined as part of the Hasoub acceleration programmefor young Arab entrepreneurs; and Daniel Aronovich of Healthymize, which together with Shady Hassanwon the second place at LEAP Haifa accelerator.
During thet week, the six innovators participated in meetings with British investors and business leaders; met UK government officials and British ambassador David Quarrey; and were among hundreds of British participants of a prestigious UK business conference organized by Calcalist newspaper.
For years, the British embassy and its unique The UK Tech Hub are supporting numerous initiatives encouraging Arab startups to grow through the UK. The Hub provides Arab innovators with business development support, mentoring, and access to top companies and government officials. The Hub also supports the Nazareth branch of Founders and Coders, an initiative from London that offers free coding school, enabling more people to enter the tech industry.
The UK, being the global financial centre and home to many multinational companies, is aiming to be the bridge connecting Arab innovators from Israel to hundreds of millions of customers in the Middle East and North Africa.
One of the innovators, Rami Shacour of Innosphere, said: “We had an exciting week. Although we knew many things about the UK before, we are surprised by the energy of the innovation scene in London, and the willingness of big companies to partner with startups as ours”.
