The power of partnerships: HPE joins Hub71’s Outliers Program

16 Feb, 2022

Partnership and collaboration are the foundation of progress. This vision is shared by Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem Hub71 and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), the pioneering edge-to-cloud company. Now, HPE has joined forces with Hub71’s Outliers Program to harness the power of startups to advance innovation.

In November 2021, HPE and Hub71 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on a series of programs dedicated to nurturing tech startups. HPE will provide Hub71 startup founders with access to experts, mentorship, and business opportunities.

As part of this collaboration, HPE will participate in the next edition of the Outliers, Hub71’s annual partner challenge program.

“Abu Dhabi has cemented itself over the last couple of years as one of the leading technology capitals of the world,” says Ahmad Alkhallafi, HPE’s UAE managing director. “Looking at how Abu Dhabi is investing in ICT infrastructure and technology, it is an ideal place to start any business.

“Hub71 has created a vibrant community of startups, tech companies and investors. It is built on a foundation of partnership and collaboration. This is very important for us at HPE. We believe that through partnership and collaboration, any challenge in the world can be tackled from a technological perspective.

“Startups play a critical role in accelerating innovation, and we are very much looking forward to this partnership.”

The power of Outliers

Hub71’s Outliers Program is designed to attract the brightest and best startup talent from around the world and provide them with the market access and business opportunities they need to thrive. It is a powerful way of bridging the gap between entrepreneurs and industry.

“We like how Hub71 has created a vibrant community of startups, tech companies and investors, contributing to a robust ecosystem,” says Alkhallafi.

“The Outliers Program is aimed at sourcing best-in-class technology from all over the world to support large corporations in achieving their innovation needs. It offers startups a unique opportunity to access markets in Abu Dhabi, the UAE and beyond.”

Corporate and government partners – including Mastercard, Thales, Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, and now HPE – present real-life problems. Startups from around the world are challenged to design and pitch the solution. The winners receive up to AED 100,000 investment to fund the development of their proof of concepts (POCs).

This opportunity has already attracted some of the world’s most forward-thinking innovators. 2021’s winners include Genify, an AI-specialist for banks, BridgerPay, a software-as-a-service payments intelligence platform, and AR Engineering, which uses augmented reality, virtual reality and extended reality to improve user experience.

The benefits for both startups and corporates are huge. Startups play a crucial role in accelerating innovation, bringing pioneering concepts to bear on real businesses challenges. In turn, the corporate partners provide market access, expertise, and talent: a launchpad of unmatched opportunities for new and developing businesses.

An opportunity to collaborate

For HPE, joining the Outliers Program is a natural step in its pursuit of collaboration and innovation.

“A year and a half ago, HP launched its HPE digital lab in the UAE, the first of many that we will be launching all over the world,” says Alkhallafi. “It’s all about accelerating innovation.

“Partnering with startups is a very important pillar for us, and what better platform than Hub71 for us to tap into?”

Startups working with HPE will benefit from the backing of a world leader in one of the most rapidly developing sectors: edge and cloud computing.

“HPE brings global reach, expertise and access to advanced technology for all startups, as well as access to real business opportunities,” says Alkhallafi. “We advise a lot of governments and private sector companies in tackling their digital transformation challenges.

“Sometimes, the solution lies in a startup.”

This marriage of established market leadership and bright new ideas is sparking the most exciting innovation, and Hub71 has designed an ideal environment to nurture it by enabling corporate partners to work hand in hand with startups to redefine the future of business.