What makes companies successful? How do they generate new ideas? What role do government instruments play in financing? And how can innovative economies generate sustainable growth and employment? Andreas Klasen also spoke to State Secretary of Finance Younis Haji Al Khoori, Yann Ballet of Airbus and Craig Moore, founder of the P2P financing platform Beehive. After the discussion, Finance Minister Obaid Humaid Al Tayer announced the launch of a new innovation fund for the Emirates in the presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Martin Herrenknecht, CEO of the eponymous global market leader for tunnelling technology and honorary citizen of Offenburg University of Applied Sciences, pointed out the importance of sound education. The exchange between all experts in a sector and research institutions is extremely important. Innovation is not created in an ivory tower. With good collaboration, graduates bring the right mix of theory and practice from the university to their future company.

Innovations can only become marketable if companies can rely on reliable framework conditions from their national government in addition to their own financial strength and the support of banks. The new innovation fund for the United Arab Emirates, set up with the support of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), is therefore an “exceptional and promising step for the future of the country.”