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Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, has said Gitex Global helped to place technology among Dubai's top priorities.
He said the event, which runs from Monday to Friday at Dubai World Trade Centre, made the emirate a key technology centre.
"Tomorrow, the largest technology exhibition in the world will be launched on an area of two million square feet, with the participation of 5,000 companies from 90 countries, including 35 start-ups, each of which has a valuation of more than $1 billion," he said on Twitter.
"Gitex Global, which launched in 1981, has put Dubai on the global technology map and put technology at the top of Dubai's priorities."
The event has become one of the world's largest technology exhibitions.
This year, it will feature the first public flight of a Chinese two-seat flying car.
With a 25 per cent increase in exhibition space on 2021, organisers said 52 per cent of exhibitors were new to Gitex, including global tech companies Binance, AMD, Tencent and ByteDance.
The event will feature the latest developments and innovations in 5G, artificial intelligence, cloud technology, cybersecurity, FinTech, blockchain, data analytics and smart cities.
North Star Dubai, one of the region's largest start-up events, is taking place alongside Gitex.
The start-up conference will host the biggest unicorn meetup of the year in Dubai — with 35 unicorns from 15 countries looking to explore new opportunities.
Artificial intelligence summit Ai Everything, Future Blockchain Summit, digital finance summit FinTech Surge and martech event Marketing Mania will also run alongside Gitex Global.
It will also feature two new events — Global DevSlam, the Middle East’s largest coder and developer meetup, and X-VERSE, an immersive metaverse journey featuring 28 experiential brands.
Both sold out to a global audience within two months.
“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 Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Working System.