Thirty innovators, including 22 startups and eight AI development professionals, presented breakthrough AI-powered solutions at the UAE’s first Llama Design Drive Demo Day during an exclusive event at the Dubai Future Foundation.
Meta’s AI accelerator programme, developed in partnership with Dubai Future Foundation and powered by Startupbootcamp, culminated with 19 teams showcasing real-world applications for some of the UAE’s leading companies, including Emirates Airline, Chalhoub Group, Dubai Holding, and the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).
During the four-week programme, startups and individual engineers received support from Meta to build prototypes using Meta’s open-source large language model Llama 3.2 engine to solve seven different challenges presented by corporate partners.
Each company presented key challenges to be addressed by the cohort’s solutions while highlighting the vast potential of AI to transform industries.
Emirates Airline is presenting a challenge to remove travel anxiety for people with disabilities and senior travellers, Indigo Hive, a startup specialising in intelligent automation, presented “MyTravelGuide,” a conversational chatbot on WhatsApp developed by retraining Llama to provide expert guidance to travelers with accessibility needs.
Icom Innovation introduced “Ike,” an AI companion that ensures end-to-end accessibility support, combining real-time data verification and Llama multimodal capabilities to give personalised guidance for travellers with disabilities.
The Dubai-based AI company Transcend Technologies developed “Chalhoub Analytics,” a platform that harnesses Llama 3 deep learning to better analyse brand and store performance and provide actionable insights to luxury brands.
Fitch Technologies addressed inventory management challenges by showcasing “FocastIQ,” a tool that leverages predictive analytics to optimise inventory, reducing overstock and stockouts.
CarbonSifr introduced a multi-agent AI solution that automates GHG emissions tracking and reporting, leveraging localised supply chain data and integrating Llama AI for enhanced data processing and insights generation.
One of the participants created an AI chatbot that simplifies mobility data, providing RTA analysts with direct insights, improving access to local transportation data and aiding in efficient decision-making.
Another startup, Byanat, developed a platform that leverages mobility data from multiple sources to enhance user interactions through an AI-driven chat.
A data-analytics startup, Oryx, presented “TransfeX,” which uses Llama data processing capabilities to enhance public transportation efficiency by analysing and optimising route connections.
The Llama Design Drive Demo Day marked a milestone in UAE’s AI sector, underscoring the strategic importance of open-source AI in building solutions with commercial and social impact.
Abdulaziz AlJaziri, Deputy CEO of Dubai Future Foundation said, “Dubai Future Foundation partners with global technology giants under its efforts to enhance Dubai’s startup ecosystem. This latest partnership with Meta is bringing some of the UAE’s largest national enterprises together with innovative startups to solve challenges in line with the objectives of Dubai’s economic and social agendas.”
Joulan Abdul Khalek, Policy Programmes Manager, Africa Middle East and Türkiye at Meta, stated, “This initiative illustrates the power of open-source AI to bring people together to solve complex challenges with innovation. The use cases presented today are truly impressive, demonstrating creativity, technical skill, and a deep understanding of industry needs.”