Dubai announces biggest-ever ‘Expand North Star’ with five new features for 2025 edition

Dubai: Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy has announced five major new features for Expand North Star 2025, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year as the world’s largest gathering for startups and investors. Organised by Dubai World Trade Centre and hosted by Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy, the milestone edition will run from 12–15 October 2025 at Dubai Harbour, marking its most ambitious showcase to date.

The new features — ScaleX, Consumer Tech Zone, North Star Green Impact, Deeptech MEA Summit, and Digital Assets Forum — are set to expand the event’s ecosystem, creating fresh opportunities for entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders to connect, collaborate, and scale innovation.

ScaleX: Accelerating global growth

ScaleX will serve as the official growth programme of Expand North Star Dubai 2025, spotlighting 100 of the fastest-growing technology companies worldwide. Designed as a market access initiative, ScaleX combines virtual preparation with high-impact in-person exposure during the event. The selected scaleups will be connected with strategic partners and investors to support their expansion into the Middle East and global markets.

Consumer Tech Zone: Showcasing next-gen products

The new Consumer Tech Zone will act as a launchpad for cutting-edge, product-driven startups in areas such as AR/VR hardware, smart health devices, lifestyle tech, and connected consumer products. The zone will feature demo-ready startups backed by accelerators, government programmes, and research hubs, offering visitors a first look at emerging consumer technologies shaping the future.

North Star Green Impact: Climate innovation in focus

With sustainability at the heart of global innovation, Expand North Star 2025 will debut the Green Impact zone. This dedicated space will spotlight startups advancing clean energy, circular economy solutions, water technologies, and sustainable mobility. The launch comes as the region’s climate-tech sector accelerates, buoyed by a 40% annual rise in venture capital funding in 2023. The initiative will connect green-tech founders with impact investors, government stakeholders, and climate-focused partners.

Deeptech MEA Summit: Driving advanced innovation

The Deeptech MEA Summit will bring together global researchers, entrepreneurs, and technology leaders alongside government entities to explore breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing, and related fields. Designed to foster a stronger deep-tech ecosystem in the Middle East and Africa, the summit aims to address barriers to growth, build strategic partnerships, and provide resources that enable cutting-edge technologies to achieve real-world impact.

Digital Assets Forum: Shaping the future of finance

The Digital Assets Forum will unite experts to discuss how blockchain, tokenisation, and AI are reshaping financial systems. Covering topics from central bank digital currencies to tokenised assets and risk management, the forum will explore opportunities and challenges within the rapidly evolving global financial infrastructure.

Signature programmes

Alongside its new features, the 10th anniversary edition will see the return of Expand North Star’s most popular programmes. The Supernova Challenge 2.0, billed as the world’s largest startup pitch competition, will once again feature with a prize pool of US$200,000. The Corporate Arena, introduced last year, returns for its second edition to connect enterprise leaders with founders and investors.

The Tech Transfer Innovation Forum will also return, continuing its mission to link academia, researchers, and entrepreneurs to drive research-based innovation. Marketing Mania, the region’s leading MarTech conference, will give founders and CMOs a platform to explore how AI and creative storytelling can transform brand building.

The event will also retain its strong focus on young talent, with YouthX Unipreneur and Emaratipreneur platforms empowering students and Emirati founders to enter the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Networking will extend beyond daytime sessions through North Star by Night, a series of evening mixers designed to strengthen collaboration.

Strengthening Dubai’s digital ambitions

These enhancements underline Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy’s commitment to positioning Dubai as a leading global hub for technology and innovation, in line with the Dubai Economic Agenda (D33). Expand North Star remains a cornerstone of this vision, driving investment, talent, and growth opportunities that reinforce Dubai’s role in shaping the global digital economy.