Future Technology Week, the new umbrella brand uniting 4 of the area's leading technology events, will debut The Hive-- billed by organisers Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) as the Start-up showdown of the century.

Handpicked by an esteemed panel of distinguished technology market experts, company masters and SME accelerators, The Hive will see the area's leading young business owners pitch special start-up ideas conceived to fix today's biggest technology obstacles.

During The Hive, the candidates will provide development business principles to a live audience and judging panel in a five-minute pitch on the first day of Future Technology Week. The panel of judges consists of Ibrahim Tadros, Head, Business Development and Strategy, Wamda; Muhammed Mekki, Founding Partner, AstroLabs; Jonny Voon, IoT Lead, Innovate UK, and Shaun Moore, CEO and Founder, Chui-- the world's smartest doorbell.

A one-day event, The Hive is supported by Dubai SME, the agent of the Department of Economic in Development (DED) in Dubai mandated to establish the SME sector, Wamda and Astrolabs, and runs in parallel with four specialist shows - Gulf Information Security Expo & Conference (GISEC), the Internet of Things Expo (IoTX), The Big Data Show and Gulf Enterprise Mobility Exhibition & Conference (GEMEC)-- being held from March 29 to 31 at DWTC.

"The Hive is a dedicated innovative platform for budding, ambitious business owners to present their entrepreneurial ideas and ingenious start-up business principles. It's the start-up showdown of the century," stated Trixie LohMirmand, Senior Vice President, Exhibitions & Events, DWTC, the Future Technology Week organiser.

The contestants' submissions will be judged on six requirements consisting of useful usage of product or solution, innovative use of technology, ease of implementation, sustainable business model, user adoption to this day and difference to other products in the market. The Hive's ultimate winner will be granted a prize money of AED 50,000.

"Technology and innovation together make a perfect SME platform for entrepreneurs and start-ups to pursue success. A key finding in our State of the SME report was that innovative SMEs tend to be more worldwide oriented. The Hive initiative need to be supported since any effort to inspire entrepreneurs and tech SMEs is a financial investment in sustaining innovation and enterprise growth," stated Saeed Matar Al Marri, Deputy CEO of Dubai SME.

Judge Tadros included: "IoT is driving many ingenious start-ups and l expect listening to bright minds pitching their principles will be helpful and enjoyable. I look forward to recognizing the winner and tracking their advancement over coming months and years.".

Judge Mekki included: "Dubai is quickly ending up being an international hub for tech start-ups-- particularly those targeting emerging markets - and AstroLabs is enjoyed see entrepreneurs from all over the world pick this city as their house. We are anticipating hearing from the picked start-ups as they pitch their innovative concepts throughout the competitors.".

The extensive Future Technology Week format will include an interactive conference, innovative tech exhibit, security workshops, a Microsoft-sponsored live Hackathon and capture the flag code breaking competition.

Future Technology Week is supported by Dubai Smart Office as Smart City Partner to drive awareness on Dubai's Smart City effort. The Big Data Show and IoTX has actually attracted sponsors consisting of Microsoft as Hackathon & Business Intelligence Analytics Partner of The Big Data Show; while IoTX has Pacific Controls as Keynote Sponsor; Huawei, Intel Corporation and SAP as Diamond Sponsors; Advantech B&B SmartWorx, Cisco, Dell and Ericsson Middle East as Platinum Sponsors; General Electric and MachinesTalk as Gold Sponsors; and Cybercom, Red Solutions and WebNMS as Silver Sponsors.

Key sponsors of GISEC include Strategic Partner BT, DarkMatter as Cyber Security Innovation Partner; GBM as Diamond Sponsor; Spire Solutions as Platinum Sponsor; Cisco, Fidelis Cybersecurity, VMWare, and Forcepoint as Gold Sponsor; Guidance Software as Silver Sponsor. Additionally, The Big Data Show has actually brought in Microsoft as the Hackathon & Business Intelligence Analytics Partner.

IoTX opens on March 29 and concludes on March 30, the one-day GEMEC runs on March 29, GISEC opens on March 30 and ends on March 31, and the one-day The Big Data Show runs on March 31. The exhibition segment runs for 3 days from March 29 to 31.

Future Technology Week and its associated segmented exhibitions and conferences are strictly trade-only occasions available to business and trade visitors just. Visitor participation to Future Technology Week exhibitions is free of charge but conference attendance is charged on either a single conference or 'season pass' basis.