Majlis gatherings
Majlis-style evening sessions where a single question gets three hours and no slides.
Community
Inside the UAE AI ecosystem.
Not outside looking in.
The organizations that navigate the UAE AI ecosystem best are not the ones with the largest budgets. They have the best information, the strongest relationships, and a seat in the right conversations.
Intelligence
Know what is happening.
Relationships
Know who matters.
Presence
Be in the conversations.
Community experiences
Meet the ecosystem.
The community is built around real-world interaction as much as information. These are the formats it happens in.
Coffee & Coding
A morning working session where members bring a real problem and leave with it half-solved.
AI roundtables
Focused conversations around the issues, opportunities and challenges shaping AI in the region.
See all 6 formats
Mocktails and meetings
An after-work format built for introductions rather than presentations.
Meetings
Targeted connections between relevant professionals, founders, organizations and ecosystem participants.
Community events
Talks, discussions, gatherings and activities that bring the ecosystem into the same room.
Gatherings are announced to members. Dates, formats and locations vary, and what is running at any given time is shared through the community rather than fixed to a published calendar.
Community membership
Join the Nakoda AI Community.
Your entry point into the UAE AI ecosystem — open to professionals, founders, executives and organizations operating in or entering the UAE AI space.
01
The Nakoda AI Brief
The weekly Brief, covering the developments that actually matter in the UAE AI landscape that week.
02
Events intelligence
Intelligence and coverage around the AI and technology events shaping the UAE ecosystem - before, during and after.
03
Community participation
Inclusion in community activities, discussions and the gatherings behind them.
04
Professional network
Relationships with UAE AI practitioners, founders, executives and advisors, built through sustained participation rather than a directory listing.
05
Real-world gatherings
Majlis sessions, Coffee & Coding, mocktails and meetings, roundtables and community events.
06
Contribution
Membership is built around contribution as much as consumption. Members who share expertise and improve the quality of the community's intelligence get the most back.
Join the community
Membership is available via nakoda.ai. The Nakoda AI Brief is free to subscribe to.
Why this exists
The advantage is being inside.
Three things separate the organizations that navigate this ecosystem well from the ones that follow it. None of them is budget.
- 01
Information
Know what is happening while it still counts as information. Policy moves, programme announcements and regulatory changes are public eventually; the advantage is in the gap before they become common knowledge.
- 02
Relationships
Know who matters, and be known by them. Most of what moves in this ecosystem — a speaking slot, a programme introduction, an early read on a decision — moves through people rather than through channels.
- 03
Presence
Be part of the conversations that shape the ecosystem rather than reading about them afterwards. Presence is what turns information and relationships into something an organization can act on.
Intelligence
Know what matters before it becomes obvious.
The most useful ten minutes an AI professional in the UAE can spend in their inbox each week.
The Nakoda AI Brief
A weekly newsletter covering the UAE AI ecosystem for professionals and organizations operating in or entering this market. Each edition is built around what actually mattered that week.
It is not a content marketing newsletter. It does not exist to promote services or republish press releases with new headlines. It exists to surface what professionals need to understand the ecosystem without spending hours each week assembling it from dozens of sources.
Subscribers include founders, executives, governance professionals, investors and government officials across the Gulf.
- Policy developmentsWhat moved in UAE AI policy, and what it changes.
- Ecosystem announcementsProgrammes, launches, funding and appointments.
- Regulatory updatesObligations arriving, and who they land on.
- Event intelligenceWhat is worth attending, and what came out of what was.
- Practical guidanceDrawn from our advisory practice, not from a content calendar.
Free · Weekly · One-click unsubscribe
Subscribe to the Brief
The most accessible way into the community, and the only one that costs nothing but an email address.
The Brief is independently edited. Nothing appears in it because an organization paid for it to, and coverage of an event or a programme is never sold.
Access
Put expertise in the right rooms.
Speaking and appearing in media are among the highest-impact visibility activities available to AI leaders. Access to the platforms is not distributed evenly.
Organizations without established relationships in the UAE media and events landscape spend enormous time pursuing opportunities that get filled through relationships they do not yet have.
We use our relationships with UAE AI conference organizers, media outlets and editorial teams to connect members with speaking and media opportunities relevant to their expertise and objectives.
What this is
- Introductions to conference organizers, media outlets and editorial teams
- Matching your expertise to opportunities where it is actually relevant
- Context on what each platform is looking for
What this is not
- A guaranteed speaking slot
- Guaranteed media coverage
- A placement service paid by the appearance
This is introduction facilitation. We make the connection and leave the relationship building to the people involved — and we do not promise access we cannot deliver.
Discuss an opportunityBetween gatherings
More of what membership opens up.
- Go beyond the event.
- Get closer to the conversations shaping the ecosystem.
- Know where to plug into the UAE startup ecosystem.
- Navigate the UAE's AI agenda.
Read all fourShow less
Event intelligence
Go beyond the event.
The UAE AI events calendar is dense and fast-moving. Attending is not the same as knowing what happened.
We cover the calendar as a working media platform, producing coverage at news.nakoda.ai that extends the intelligence available from each event beyond what attendees carry away in their notes.
- Before
Know what is worth your day
Pre-event intelligence on which sessions and speakers are worth prioritizing, so a three-day agenda becomes a shortlist.
- During
Coverage as it happens
Coverage of the announcements, conversations and developments that matter while the event is still running.
- After
What actually mattered
Post-event synthesis that distills what actually matters from what was announced - including for the sessions nobody could attend.
On the calendar we cover
Dubai AI WeekGITEX GlobalNorth Star Globaland the wider regional calendar
Coverage of an event does not imply accreditation by, or a partnership with, its organizer. Where a media partnership exists it is stated on the coverage itself.
Media
Get closer to the conversations shaping the ecosystem.
We operate news.nakoda.ai as a UAE AI media platform. That creates access a pure consulting company would not have.
Media Partnership Programme
Through the programme we serve as official media partner for AI events and conferences across the UAE where such partnerships are established, providing editorial coverage to our community in exchange for accreditation and the access that follows.
Organizations hosting AI events that want recognized AI-specialist media coverage can contact the editorial team at news.nakoda.ai.
Where the relationships support it, this opens
- Media accreditation where an organizer grants it
- Event access
- Government programme access
- Senior contacts
- Editorial relationships
Who should get in touch
- AI event organizers
- Conference hosts
- Ecosystem organizations
- Institutions seeking specialist AI coverage
“UAE AI media platform” describes what news.nakoda.ai does — it reports on the UAE AI ecosystem and is recognized as a source within it. It is not a claim of government accreditation or formal recognition.
Startups
Know where to plug into the UAE startup ecosystem.
Rich with programmes, funding, incubators and government initiatives — and notoriously difficult to navigate without a guide.
Hub71
Abu Dhabi
Funding, co-investment and ecosystem access.
Dubai Founders HQ
Dubai
Dubai's dedicated startup campus.
Ignyte
UAE
Startup programme and ecosystem platform.
Flat6Labs
Regional
Early-stage accelerator programmes.
Antler
Global / UAE
Day-zero founder programmes.
Plug and Play
Global / UAE
Corporate-linked accelerator programmes.
DMCC
Dubai
Free zone with its own programme office.
DIFC
Dubai
Financial centre and innovation programmes.
Masdar City
Abu Dhabi
Free zone with a technology and sustainability focus.
Each offers different things to different kinds of startups, with different eligibility criteria, timelines and expectations. Choosing wrongly costs a founder months.
How we map the pathway
- 01ProfileStage, sector, structure and what the startup actually needs next.
- 02ShortlistThe programmes whose criteria and thesis fit that profile - and the ones that do not.
- 03SequenceWhat to apply for first, and what only becomes available afterwards.
- 04ApproachPositioning the AI proposition against each programme's evaluation criteria.
- 05IntroductionsWhere a relationship exists and an introduction is appropriate, we make it.
This is the strategic and relationship layer on top of the mechanics — the part that helps founders understand the ecosystem they are navigating and move through it efficiently.
The organizations named above are examples of the ecosystem a founder has to navigate. They are not Nakoda partners, and listing one here does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by it.
Discuss your startup pathwayGovernment and ecosystem
Navigate the UAE's AI agenda.
UAE government AI initiatives represent significant opportunities for organizations aligned with the government's direction.
Dubai AI Campus
A dedicated cluster for AI companies, with the events, relationships and visibility that flow through it.
1 Million AI Talents
A national programme aimed at building AI capability at population scale.
Federal AI programmes
Programmes run through the Federal Authority for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy.
Sector initiatives
Sector-specific AI initiatives across health, finance and transport.
We provide members with current intelligence on UAE government AI programmes, guidance on which are relevant to their specific situation, and — where possible — the introductions and facilitation that accelerate access.
Where we stop
We do not promise access we cannot deliver, and we do not take engagements where the expected outcome exceeds what the relationship infrastructure supports.
Programme names, scope, eligibility and status are set and published by the relevant authority and change between editions. We confirm the current position for your situation rather than restating it here.
Discuss your situationWho the community is for.
Professionals and organizations at every stage of their UAE AI journey.
- Founders
- Navigate the startup and government ecosystem with better information and the connections to move through it.
- Executives
- Stay current on the AI landscape and build relationships across it without assembling the picture yourself.
- AI professionals
- Stay connected to the people, developments and conversations shaping AI in the UAE.
- Investors
- Read the ecosystem from inside it - who is building, what is being funded and what the policy direction is.
- Organizations entering the UAE
- Understand the market, the ecosystem and the relationships needed to establish a presence here.
- Organizations without a PR or events function
- Reach media, event intelligence and community connections without building the infrastructure internally.
- AI companies
- Find channel partnerships, visibility opportunities and relevant ecosystem connections.
- Technology and service providers
- Reach the organizations making AI decisions, through partnership rather than cold outreach.
- Advisors
- Work alongside a practice embedded in the ecosystem, and refer where the fit is better elsewhere.
The network
A network built around useful relationships.
Nakoda sits in the middle of it — not as a gatekeeper, but as the layer that makes the connections findable.
People
The practitioners who make the ecosystem worth being inside.
- Founders
- Executives
- AI practitioners
- Advisors
- Investors
Institutions
The organizations that set the agenda, the calendar and the rules.
- Government
- Events
- Universities
- Media
- Technology ecosystem
Opportunities
What movement between the two produces.
- Speaking
- Media
- Partnerships
- Events
- Programmes
- Introductions
People meet institutions through the gatherings, the coverage and the introductions. Opportunities are what that movement produces — and none of them exist without the people.
Partnerships
Grow through the ecosystem.
For AI companies, service providers, technology vendors and complementary consultancies serving the UAE AI market.
The Channel Partner Programme is structured for organizations that want to grow through a partnership with an advisory firm embedded in the UAE AI ecosystem.
Channel partners are not resellers.
The model
- Refer clients to Nakoda AI when the fit is right.
- Receive referrals from Nakoda AI in return.
- Participate in joint content, events and community programmes.
- Extend both organizations' reach and credibility.
Programme structure
- Eligibility
- Defined partner eligibility criteria.
- Agreement
- A formal referral agreement.
- Go-to-market
- Joint go-to-market support.
- Review
- A review structure that keeps the partnership productive for both parties.
Frequently asked questions
The weekly Nakoda AI Brief, events intelligence and coverage from news.nakoda.ai, inclusion in community discussions, and the in-person formats: majlis gatherings, mocktails and meetings, and Coffee & Coding working sessions.
The directory features verified UAE government entities, free zones, universities, events and ecosystem platforms. Organizations wanting to be included can contact us. Listing is at editorial discretion and is never paid placement.
Three categories: Channel Partners (AI companies and service providers who refer clients), Media Partners (we cover events as a media outlet in exchange for accreditation), and Business Partners (companies aligned with our advisory services).
Professionals, founders, executives and organizations operating in or entering the UAE AI space. Membership is the base-level entry point to the Nakoda AI ecosystem and is not restricted to clients of the advisory practice.
The Nakoda AI Brief is free to subscribe to. Community membership is available via nakoda.ai - start there and we will tell you what applies to your situation rather than quoting something generic here.
It depends on the format. A majlis session gives a single question three hours and no slides. Coffee & Coding is a morning working session where members bring a real problem. Mocktails and meetings is an after-work format built for introductions rather than presentations. None of them are pitch events.
A weekly newsletter covering the UAE AI ecosystem: policy developments, ecosystem announcements, regulatory updates, event intelligence and practical guidance drawn from our advisory practice. It is not a content marketing newsletter and it does not republish press releases with new headlines.
No. Speaker and media access is introduction facilitation: we connect members with opportunities relevant to their expertise and objectives, and leave the relationship building to the people involved. We do not promise access we cannot deliver.
Yes. Organizations hosting AI events that want recognized AI-specialist coverage can contact the editorial team at news.nakoda.ai. We provide editorial coverage in exchange for accreditation and the access that follows. Coverage is at editorial discretion and is never paid placement.
Yes. The Channel Partner Programme is structured for AI companies, service providers, technology vendors and complementary consultancies serving the UAE AI market. Channel partners are not resellers - they refer clients when the fit is right and receive referrals in return.
No. We provide current intelligence on UAE government AI programmes, guidance on which are relevant to a given situation and, where possible, the introductions that accelerate access. We do not take engagements where the expected outcome exceeds what the relationship infrastructure supports.
Coverage at news.nakoda.ai is at editorial discretion and is never paid placement. Directory listing works the same way. Media partnership buys accreditation and access, not a story or its angle.
Join the community
Be inside the conversation.
Stay informed. Meet the people shaping AI in the UAE. Build the relationships, presence and context that make the ecosystem navigable.
Organizations looking at media partnership, event coverage, speaker access or the Channel Partner Programme: talk to Nakoda. The conversation starts with what you are trying to achieve.
07 of 08 · Nakoda AI divisions
Community is one of eight. They work as one.
- 01AI Strategy
- 02AI Governance
- 03AI Audit
- 04AI Visibility
- 05Business Setup Advisory
- 06Learning and Development
- 07CommunityYou are here
- 08OthersRead next
UAE AI ecosystem
Organisations this division works with
From the directory