UAE Tech Podcast

UAE Tech Podcast

UAE Tech Podcast is an exploration on how technology is merging with and reshaping government in the United Arab Emirates. A little understood but fundamental transition is taking place across a series of Emirates first established less than fifty years ago, in 1971. It’s here that the center of technological gravity is shifting from the private sector to a hybrid relationship involving industrialists, entrepreneurs, diplomats, policymakers, creatives and citizens. It’s also here that signs of a Fourth Industrial Revolution are emerging. In this series John Lillywhite talks with leaders from across the UAE in an effort to map these macro trends, and probe how innovations in big data, network science and digitalisation are not simply revolutionising government, but could - one day - play a role in influencing the systems that power global civilization itself.

Episodes

CypherCapital: Web3 VC

June 23, 2024 • 25 mins
Vineet Budki is CEO of CypherCapital, a ‘Web3 native’ VC firm based in the UAE that has led investments in the likes of Mysten Labs, Sei Network, Casper Labs, Web3Auth, ZKLink and many others. CypherCapital has evolved into a global presence, investments and insights. How did CyperCapital fare during COVID-19 and the ‘crypto-winter’? Are there signs Web3 is maturing from cowboy pump-and-dump to mainstream solutions? Will Gaming an...
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Ethara: Digital Twins

June 10, 2024 • 24 mins
One of the reasons for the continued growth of the UAE’s tech ecosystem, has been its ability to attract the world to Dubai. More recently, however, Abu Dhabi has made very significant strides in hosting mega-scale events - fashioning entire islands, such as Yas Island and Sadiyat island, for art lovers and racing car lovers to enjoy immaculately curated experiences. Ethara is a company that owns, manages and promotes some of the ...
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Senet: Skill2Earn Gaming

May 17, 2024 • 26 mins
It doesn’t matter whether you’re drifting around a corner in Need for Speed, screaming ‘Get Over Here’ in Mortal Kombat, or dropping a banana in Mario Kart, video games are about one thing: Skill. Or are they? Aren’t video games also about having fun. Enter the debate over Skill2Earn, versis Free2Earn, and what the future of video games looks like. Shouldn’t users who spend upwards of 20 hours a week (and sometimes way more), be a...
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The Story of StepConference

May 3, 2024 • 33 mins
In the UAE, Step Conference requires little introduction. But how did the darling of the Dubai tech scene calendar actually get started? What happened to the English and Arabic content websites? And what was it like running such a popular and successful conference … only to have COVID-19 shut down, well, pretty much everything. Ray Dargham, CEO and founder of Step Conference provides the inside story on how a student project at AU...
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Yuri Dvoinos: Dubai Tech Swagger

April 18, 2024 • 31 mins
Yuri Dvoinos sold his company Figleaf to Aura in 2020. He currently serves as Chief Innovation Officer at the Boston based cybersecurity firm, which is backed by none other than Robert Downey Jr. We wanted to begin our interview with “so what’s it like working with Iron Man,” but apparently everyone leads with this line, and they have not met. Also, Iron Man is a fictional character, so that would be weird. We digress. Yuri is a ...
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Building a Deep-Tech Ecosystem

April 8, 2024 • 26 mins
Hassan Al Noon is a graduate of the National Experts Program in Abu Dhabi, a mentorship program which pairs promising Emirati leaders with established experts in industry. Hassan’s capstone project focused on the development of deep-tech, and the need to create a collaborative ecosystem to support R&D in the UAE.
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Yango Play: Does Your AI Speak Khaleeji?

March 18, 2024 • 32 mins
If you’ve been living in Dubai it’s been difficult to avoid Yango, an app that is being noticed for impressively accurate GPS and ride-hailing services. A Netherlands registered company backed by the Russian conglomerate Yandex, the app has ambitions which go beyond getting you around the city. Yango wants to become that most fabled of creatures; not a Unicorn, but a super-app. The recently launched Yango play features an AI assis...
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Arto Bendiken: Blockchain Refugees

March 8, 2024 • 48 mins
Arto is an OG interested in e-gold, in Ayn Rand and early Sci-Fi. He has a compelling perspective on what technology used to be, and where it might be going. We sat down with him to discuss his latest company, Haltia.AI, and why being a blockchain refugee in Dubai is a portal into the future.
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Axis Comms: Into the Network

February 18, 2024 • 22 mins
Martin Glen began tinkering with print servers back in the 1984, eventually co-founding a company that would become a world leader in network video. In 1996 he invented the AXIS 2000 and NetEye with a Carl-Axel Aim; the first network camera.
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Theion: Lithium-Sulfur

February 5, 2024 • 26 mins
Enter Theion, a Berlin based startup creating batteries based on lithium-sulfur, rather than lithium-ion. Compellingly, sulfur is an abundant waste product, particularly in the GCC, where it is one of the outputs from processing oil. Unlike cobalt, manganese or nickel, it doesn’t need to be mined.
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David Chaum: Better than Money?

January 22, 2024 • 36 mins
David Chaum is a mercurial gentleman. He’s gone from pretty much inventing digital cash, the main thing he missed being Satoshi’s proof of work, to consulting on CBDCs, working with European bankers, and plotting to stop solar warming...
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Unlocking the Dubai Blockchain

January 11, 2024 • 25 mins
Finding out information on the Dubai blockchain ecosystem isn’t always easy. For the most part, you need to be in it. There’s many familiar foundational faces, and people flying in and out from all over the world: Austin, Shanghai, Moscow, Paris. You name it. While this makes for an exciting and often exclusive scene, it doesn’t always help with investment and building great products. The discovery of great projects is often subj...
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FinaMaze: AI in Asset Management

December 14, 2023 • 28 mins
Mehdi Fichtali is CEO and founder of FinaMaze, an ADGM licensed Digital Wealth management company. He’s spent fifteen years at large banks such as Credit Agricole, Barlcays and as the Vice-President of Morgan Stanley in Dubai. Today, he’s exploring how AI can lower barriers to entry, reduce bureaucratic cost, and ensure that the likes of you and I can one day have our own asset portfolio, even if we’re not making squllions of pou...
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Cop28: Abundance & Technology

December 8, 2023 • 30 mins
For much of the technology industry, there is a certain suspicion of COP28. They believe “sustainability” evangelists get paid large government salaries to regulate solutions, without building or solving very much at all. The Bitcoin industry is furious that their movement has been maligned for using too much energy, while others cut down trees. A reductive ‘abundance vs. scarcity’ debate has been visible online in the US and UK, i...
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AI In the Machine

November 21, 2023 • 27 mins
While email phishing continues to be the favorite exploit du jour of cyberhackers, other forms of attack are emerging. What can we do to become more aware, and how can AI help solve the old cybersecurity problems of the past, at the same time as playing offence against the threats of the future? We caught up with Matt Cooke, Director of CyberSecurity and Strategy at the UAE based Proofpoint, to find out more.
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Microsoft: From Predictive to Generative AI

November 7, 2023 • 26 mins
Two years ago it’s not unfair to suggest that if most techies were asked to name the Big Tech company most likely to break through globally in AI, Microsoft might not come to mind. Microsoft partnered with OpenAI earlier this year, has just inked a deal with Activision, making it one of the largest gaming giants in the world, and has plans for the Metaverse. But you already knew that. One remains to be understood is how generativ...
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Cardano: The White Knight of Blockchain?

October 16, 2023 • 48 mins
Ahead of a Summit in Dubai this November, we spoke with CEO Frederik Gregaard on Cardano, global regulation, the role of central banks and why emerging technologies such as AI mean that trust, transparency and verification is more important than ever. Is Cardano really blockchain’s White Knight, and will we be seeing more of them in the region soon? Special thanks to Oscar Wendel, Director of Content and Conferences at MCH Group f...
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GIGA: Banking For the Gig Economy

October 8, 2023 • 32 mins
GIGA is focused on providing services to underserved foreign nationals, who have trouble opening a bank account, and gig economy workers, who may be making relatively small and short-term deposits. Inspired by European Open banking, Raul looks to a time where our bank accounts travel with us no matter where we are in the world, with local or nation-state banking as a bureaucratic nuisance from the past. So what are the parallels ...
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Anthony Thomson: Global Fintech & Hyper-Growth

September 13, 2023 • 28 mins
Anthony Thomson is an understated Brit with a notable record: he founded two of the UK’s best known “challenger banks”, namely Atom and Metro. He holds advisory roles with ASX listed Humm Group, ila Bank and Wio Bank, right here in the UAE.
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NiftyCraft: Video Games In the GCC

September 2, 2023 • 38 mins
As the UAE Tech Podcast has progressed we’ve become more and more interested in gaming. There’s been a load of reasons for this. The advent of the Metaverse, and the idea 3D technologies will drive the next iteration of the Internet. Hardware, from haptic suits to ridiculously expensive VR kits. Blockchain based gaming and NFT markets. It just seems like a lot of the high-level themes we’re discussing are converging in this space.
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