Ras Al Khaimah became the world's first free zone fully powered by artificial intelligence, where company licensing that used to take weeks now happens in days. Joining me is Paul Dawalibi, CEO of Innovation City. Paul, welcome to Wall Street to Mena.
Thank you so much for having me.
You rebranded from RAK Digital Assets Oasis to Innovation City. Why did RAK need a zone for all of tech instead of just one trend like crypto?
I have been building tech companies for 25 years. What I know for sure is that what is hot today is not necessarily what is hot tomorrow. While our DNA and our history is all about crypto, blockchain, and Web3, there was a much bigger ambition for the emirate — a much bigger ambition from His Highness in terms of what he wanted to achieve for his emirate and for innovation. Innovation City was the result. How do we go after the global technology and innovation market? How do we attract all those great founders, entrepreneurs, and tech companies from around the world to come to us?
Company licensing here takes 2 to 3 days instead of weeks. What did AI actually replace to make that possible?
So much of our back-end operations are now completely automated by AI. Every free zone will tell you they can get you a license in 2 to 3 days. But what our AI enables in the background is a service no one else can provide. For example, when you take our license at Innovation City, you get a bank account immediately — at the same time. Anywhere else in the UAE, it takes two or three months to get a business bank account. You get your IBAN number at the same moment as your business license. That is only possible because all of our back-end operations are completely automated by AI.
You are calling this the Silicon Valley of the Middle East. What does RAK genuinely have that Dubai does not?
Dubai and Abu Dhabi are incredible places. But RAK has key advantages. First, cost of living — we are about half the cost of Dubai. If you are a tech company moving to Dubai, usually the CEO moves and maybe some senior executives. But the developers stay in India, Pakistan, Jordan, or wherever is cheaper. As a consequence, you do not get density in Dubai. In RAK, a tech company can justify bringing all of its programmers here because the cost base does not go up. We can achieve density that is impossible in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Second, I am the only game in town. Innovation City is the only place in RAK to start or move your AI company. I can create density. Third, speed — RAK is in growth mode. Because it is smaller — a tenth of the population of Dubai — we can make decisions faster, respond faster, and create faster.
A company called Spark just closed an $8.5 million seed round with Andreessen Horowitz participating. What made that deal happen here instead of somewhere else?
We built a media company inside Innovation City. We did a landmark deal with Time — the only free zone in the UAE with its own dedicated section in Time. All of our founders can publish thought leadership. The Spark founders were publishing in Time, leveraging the media platform we had built. This is what got the attention of Andreessen Horowitz. This is what propelled them to great heights.
Where do you think the next generation of tech companies will actually be built — not just announced?
The UAE is not necessarily a source country — we will not see many people from the UAE start companies from zero and build them into unicorns here. The strength of the UAE and Innovation City is that we are great importers of talent. The next great technological breakthroughs will be built in places like India, China, Russia, or these great source countries. But when they look for a launchpad to grow their business — past the idea stage, past the demo stage — this is where they look to the UAE. Innovation City is that perfect launchpad. It is business heaven.
Thank you so much for being with us today.
Thank you so much for having me.
