Of the many new exciting events and programmes lined up this Gitex Global, this is what everyone’s eyes will be on: Tech company XPENG will host an exclusive world’s first public flight of its pioneering eVTOL flying car X2.
The two-seater eVTOL flying car X2 is equipped with an intelligent flight control system and autonomous flight capabilities.
With zero carbon emissions during flight, the car can reach speeds of 130kmph.
Gitex Global will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from October 10 to 14 October, featuring 5,000 companies across 26 halls and two million sq. ft of exhibition space.
“This year, my office has partnered with GITEX to ensure that we’re not just showcasing technology, but actually inventing and developing technology,” said Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for AI, Digital Economy & Remote Work Applications, as he delivered the welcome note at the official Gitex Global 2022 press conference.
What’s new?
The event will see the launch of X-VERSE sponsored by TMRW Foundation in collaboration with Decentraland, one of the world’s most immersive metaverse journeys featuring 28 experiential brands; and Global DevSlam, the Middle East’s largest ever coder and developer meetup, both of which sold-out to a global audience within two months.
The influx of global interest will see North Star, Gitex’s start-up event, hosting the biggest unicorn meetup of the year in Dubai, with 35 unicorns from 15 countries looking to explore new opportunities and expand in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets.
The ‘Africa Fast 100’ programme will present the largest ever gathering of African start-ups to be hosted outside Africa.
Debut international exhibitors such as Binance, Ooku, AMD, Tencent, and ByteDance, will seek to extend their brand reach to a global audience through Gitex, along with FTX Exchange, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges with a five million-plus global customer base and an average daily trading volume of $12 billion.
Trixie LohMirmand, Executive Vice President of Events Management at Dubai World Trade Centre, the organiser of Gitex, said: “Gitex is not just a big gathering of people. It’s the super-connector humanising the virtual and digital economies.
“Gitex serves a profound purpose of enabling and accelerating the digital economies of UAE and many of its alliance partners through connecting earnest stakeholders with outstanding minds from the world, and materialising these connections into actionable partnerships.”
Who is coming?
Gitex will also see participation from several well established as well as new UAE-based companies.
Technology Innovation Institute (TII), a scientific institution and the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council, will showcase AI and digital science, directed energy, and autonomous robotics research.
G42, a champion of AI and cloud technologies, will create a high-impact visitor experience showcasing powerful capabilities through its group of four companies.
e&, the region’s largest telecom operator, is another prominent exhibitor.
Gitex will also see the participation of 250 government entities leading strategic digital projects and public-private partnerships, with Digital Dubai Authority and Abu Dhabi Digital Authority among the UAE government bodies advancing smart city and digital projects.
Huawei, Gitex’s diamond sponsor, will this year showcase its newest end-to-end products and advanced ICT solutions focusing on AI, digital power, cloud, 5G, cybersecurity, and industry applications.
Alaa Elshimy, Managing Director and Senior Vice President of Enterprise Business Group, at Huawei Middle East, said: “Gitex Global provides us with a golden opportunity to network with our customers, partners, industry leaders and experts from the Middle East region and around the world to explore how to more effectively unleash digital productivity, promote the digital economy, and build up stronger digital ecosystems.
“We will share insights on steps we are taking to advance digital development across a wide range of industries, highlight technological updates that can address climate change and drive clean energy development, and further release new innovative connectivity solutions and cloud services for the region markets.”
Microsoft will also present its most elevated Gitex involvement yet, participating in all tech sectors including Global DevSlam and X-VERSE.
Flying car to take off at Gitex
Dr. Brian Gu, Vice Chairman and President of XPENG, said: “We’re delighted to be holding the first global public flight of the XPENG X2 at Gitex Global 2022, showcasing our pioneering in-house R&D and proprietary manufacturing capabilities to push the e-mobility industry forward,” said Gu. “We believe this advancement takes us one step closer to the future of short-distance city journeys taking advantage of this technology, including sightseeing and medical transportation.”
