3 UAE startups bag Expo Live grants

Expo Live is an innovation and partnership programme to fund, accelerate and promote creative solutions that improve lives while preserving the planet. - Supplied photo

Adult workers who struggle with life skills such as reading or writing are to receive a helping hand in the UAE to improve their job prospects thanks to a digital learning project, Smart Labour, supported by the Expo Live programme.
Smart Labour is among three organisations in the UAE that between them are receiving more than Dh1 million in funding through Expo Live's Innovation Impact Grants.
Expo Live is an innovation and partnership programme launched by Expo 2020 Dubai to fund, accelerate and promote creative solutions that improve lives while preserving the planet. Through Innovation Impact Grants, the programme awards grants to support the growth of social enterprises, start-ups and grassroots projects around the world.
Expo Live is not disclosing the amount for each project it is supporting but has said it would grant up to $100,000 per initiative for its Innovation Impact Grant Programme.
Smart Labour, a digital learning and smart services platform that provides voice-enabled content to educate blue-collar workers in their language and provide them with useful smart services to make their lives easier, is among the first to receive funding. 
Another grant recipient in the UAE is the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA). The Dubai-based non-profit agricultural research centre was established in 1999 and its mandate is to develop agricultural production systems using marginal land and water resources which are available in desert environments.
The grant from Expo Live will support the development of inland and coastal modular farms in the UAE.
Dr Dionysia Angeliki Lyra, a Halophyte Agronomist at ICBA, said: "The grant from Expo Live will help the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture in its work on developing and improving innovative inland and coastal modular farms using marginal saline water resources such as seawater, water coming from fish farming and the reject brine from desalination to grow unconventional crops in order to enhance food, nutrition and income security of rural communities that are struggling to produce in desert environments."
The third recipient is the "Connected Health and Education" firm Ver2 Digital Medicine, which is an eHealth Services Platform that uses connectivity to solve healthcare's biggest challenges.
Expo 2020 Dubai's vice-president of Expo Live, Yousuf Caires added: "The past few months have been extremely productive for Expo Live. We've launched the first public roll-out of Innovation Impact Grant Programme on  January 15, having initiated the project through a pilot last year. "
Expo Live's flagship Innovation Impact Grant programme is open for submission twice a year. The programme supports projects from around the world whose solutions generate social and environmental value and are in line with Expo 2020 Dubai's subthemes of Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability. - business@khaleejtimes.com