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Abu Dhabi: Etihad Aviation Group and NYU Abu Dhabi-based innovation and entrepreneurship platform startAD, together with the support of the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi, hosted an event that invited the NYUAD community and local partners to discuss ways to grow a culture of innovation across the tourism and travel sector in Abu Dhabi. The event took place yesterday evening (Wednesday) at NYU Abu Dhabi.
The theme of the event was "The Future of Travel and Tourism," and featured the participation of Abu Dhabi Airports, Miral, Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center, and the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), alongside Etihad Aviation Group and startAD.
The event hosted discussion on the channels through which these organisations are seeking to grow the travel and tourism sector in Abu Dhabi, as well as to create an identifiable global brand with customer experience and satisfaction at the center. The sessions also addressed ways in which the sector can adapt as consumer behaviours continue to evolve in the form of tourism in the 21st century.
When asked about Etihad’s strategy for innovation, Peter Baumgartner, CEO of Etihad Airways shared, “We strongly believe that innovation, and the creative elements that enable it, do not occur in isolation. It’s therefore incumbent upon us as a leading organisation in Abu Dhabi to join forces with other leading entities to collectively establish the infrastructure to enable innovation to flourish. The travel and tourism industry is of critical importance to Abu Dhabi’s socio-economic development, and we hope that initiatives such as this act as catalysts for the industry’s growth.”
Local organisations present for the occasion discussed the need to continue innovating from within their businesses and to learn from global best practices as well as industry leaders such as Founder of Kayak.com and Travelocity Terry Jones, who spoke on his experience creating the startup Travelocity from within American Airlines.
NYU Abu Dhabi Research Professor of Engineering, Vice Provost for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and startAD Managing Director Ramesh Jagannathan, said: “UAE’s global leadership position in the aviation industry naturally lends itself to leverage the innovations in AI and machine learning poised to disrupt the travel and tourism sector globally. The industry contributed 317,500 jobs and $18.7 billion to the UAE GDP in 2016 and is projected to grow to 410,000 jobs and $31.6 billion by 2027.”
“The Abu Dhabi innovation landscape will develop in a non-traditional manner owing to its brilliant vision, leadership, collaborative culture of innovation and rapid execution. This session is yet another step by startAD to build the UAE entrepreneurial ecosystem, bringing together stakeholders of the industry and community for a conversation around building a unique positioning of the Abu Dhabi brand in the rapidly changing travel and tourism sector.”
The partners in attendance were also able to share and advance their aims to drive innovation externally by working alongside partners such as startAD in order to identify innovative startups that are working to address some of the industry’s core challenges.
Saif Saeed Ghobash, Undersecretary at DCT Abu Dhabi, said: “Abu Dhabi is a unique destination; a true 21st Century city with all the very latest in modern tourism assets yet still with strong links to its rich heritage. Its development is down in no small part to embracing of a culture of innovation, and bringing to bear all the very latest ideas and techniques for creating a true destination of distinction that can take its place confidently on the global stage. At DCT Abu Dhabi we recognise and harness innovation to make sure we are leaving no stone unturned in our mission to promote our wonderful emirate and stimulate inbound visitor numbers; from helping develop attractive ‘concrete’ assets, such as Louvre Abu Dhabi, to using ground-breaking methods of communicating with potential visitors around the world, such as the launch of our recent Abu Dhabi Culture portal. We have also launched several exciting new initiatives, such as the event incentive schemes and new tour guide licensing programmes as we continually look to develop the tourism sector.
“This event represents a crucial opportunity for communication lines to be opened up between all stakeholders, partners and key entities involved in the industry, to not only align their plans for destination promotion, but also to tackle any challenges collectively, and also amplify and enhance each other’s ideas as we work toward the same mutual goal.”
"Miral has always believed that an innovation-driven culture is essential for the diversification of economy and the transformation of Yas Island into a global travel and tourism destination. Miral’s digital transformation project is a testament of this, as it aims to upgrade and integrate the physical and digital aspects of Yas Island’s myriad offerings in one platform. To achieve our goals, it is essential for us to work with all our partners within the industry in creating an innovative, immersive and unique travelling and leisure experience for the visitors of Yas Island and Abu Dhabi," said Mohamed Abdalla Al Zaabi, CEO of Miral.
Saoud Al Shamsi, Acting CCO of Abu Dhabi Airports, commented: “Today, as we are on the doorsteps of a great development in our business and infrastructure, innovation becomes a crucial element in the sustainability of our success and the ability to conquer the challenges ahead. Therefore, Abu Dhabi Airports will continue to take part in such initiatives, share expertise and extend resources, in collaboration with our stakeholders, to deliver a leading aviation community right here in the UAE.
Etihad Airways and startAD previously signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the UAE through the exchange of knowledge, expertise and training, and are set to further the local entrepreneurship ecosystem by encouraging mutual access to training initiatives between the two organisations.
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About startAD
startAD is an innovation and entrepreneurship platform, anchored at NYU Abu Dhabi, that supports early stage startups in the UAE. In collaboration with Tamkeen, an Abu Dhabi Government-owned company, startAD seeks to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the UAE by offering core programs and entrepreneurship initiatives.These programs enable the development of technology startups in emerging local industries of strategic importance to the UAE such as energy, aviation, logistics, fintech, smart transportation and facilitate investment in local-based startups.
Selected startups that display outstanding potential and promise may also benefit from ADvance mentoring and seed funding from startAD to help scale their businesses.
For more information, please visit: startad.ae
About Tamkeen
Tamkeen is an Abu Dhabi Government-owned company that delivers projects to meet the Government of Abu Dhabi’s vision of knowledge-based development. This is achieved by collaborating with a variety of local and international institutions to enrich the Emirate’s social, cultural and educational infrastructure in line with the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030.
About NYU Abu Dhabi
NYU Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and science campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly-selective liberal arts, engineering and science curriculum with a world center for advanced research and scholarship enabling its students to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world and advance cooperation and progress on humanity’s shared challenges. NYU Abu Dhabi’s high-achieving students have come from 115 nations and speak over 115 languages. Together, NYU's campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai form the backbone of a unique global university, giving faculty and students opportunities to experience varied learning environments and immersion in other cultures at one or more of the numerous study-abroad sites NYU maintains on six continents.
About Etihad Aviation Group
Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, Etihad Aviation Group is a diversified global aviation and travel group driven by innovation and collaboration. Etihad Aviation Group comprises five business divisions – Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates; Etihad Airways Engineering; Etihad Airport Services; Hala Group and Airline Equity Partners.
For more information, please visit: theetihadaviationgroup.com.
About Etihad Airways
From its Abu Dhabi base, Etihad Airways flies to 100 international passenger and cargo destinations with its fleet of 115 Airbus and Boeing aircraft. Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, was established by Royal (Emiri) Decree in July 2003, and in 2017 carried 18.6 million passengers. For more information, please visit: etihad.com, follow @EtihadAirways on Twitter and join Etihad Airways on Facebook.
