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Expand North Star 2024: The world’s largest startup and investment event officially underway in Dubai

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Expand North Star

Expand North Star 2024 hosts its biggest-ever European participation with over 1,000 SMEs and more than 450 startups from 35 countries across the continent

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, October 14, 2024/APO Group/ — 

Expand North Star’s highly anticipated ninth edition takes place at Dubai Harbour from 13-16 October; Acclaimed event brings entire global startup ecosystem to the UAE to accelerate the world’s most sought-after startups towards rapid growth and development.

Expand North Star 2024 (http://apo-opa.co/4eZYlV6), the world’s largest startup and investment event, is officially underway in the UAE as Sunday saw the entire global startup ecosystem enjoy an action-packed opening day at Dubai Harbour.

Hosted by the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy and organised by Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), Expand North Star takes place from 13-16 October at the Middle East’s biggest superyacht club.

Already the annual go-to showcase for startups, investors, accelerators, and tech enthusiasts to source funding, investment deals, and essential industry updates, Expand North Star 2024 is primed to be the most prominent, dynamic, and influential in its nine-year history.

Seamlessly integrated with GITEX GLOBAL, the event presents an extensive programme and immersive exhibition with over 1,800 exhibiting startups and more than 1,200 investors with assets under management (AUM) exceeding $1 trillion.

Fascinating first day of record-breaking event

Whilst bringing the entire startup ecosystem to the UAE and accelerating the world’s most sought-after startups towards rapid growth and development, this year’s edition is also the largest and most international to date with over 100 countries participating.

Expand North Star 2024 hosts its biggest-ever European participation with over 1,000 SMEs and more than 450 startups from 35 countries across the continent. Several participated in one of the highlight sessions of “Investor Sunday” at Expand North Star – ‘Connected for Success: The Power of Cross-border Collaboration in Europe’.

Alongside panellists from France, Italy, Poland, and Portugal, Dr. Sebastian Schäfer, CEO of House of Finance & Tech Berlin, discussed the future of funding and investments.

We need real joint value propositions for tangible success and use cases that help us to work together

Dr. Schäfer called for newfound cross-continental collaboration between European nations, citing the vast “untapped potential” across the digital space. He said: “As countries, we don’t collaborate. We need real joint value propositions for tangible success and use cases that help us to work together. We have the ingredients needed to compete with the big tech companies from China and the US – but we need novelty ways to utilise advantages, harness talent, and create future unicorn factories. There’s so much untapped potential waiting to be explored.”

Expand North Star 2024 also welcomes a wide variety of new exhibiting companies from Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America alongside many from the Middle East and Africa.

Bringing together 59 leading unicorns with a combined valuation of $400 billion, Expand North Star 2024 fosters startup innovation with the all-new NS scaleups (http://apo-opa.co/3U4Dvfa). This programme has been introduced to forge collaborations, stimulate business growth, and connect late-stage startups with strategic partners, venture capitalists, and clients. The opportunistic unicorn landscape was explored in another of the opening day’s standout sessions – ‘Climate Tech Unicorns: Valuation, Volatility, and Venture Capital’.

During the Sunday afternoon talk, Sean O’Sullivan, Founder of US venture capital firm SOSV – the world’s most active climate tech investor – addressed the opportunities at hand for the climate tech unicorns of tomorrow. He said: “Climate change is an urgent, existential crisis for humanity – and unsustainable, nonsensical business models cannot continue. There are opportunities for tens of thousands of startups to immediately begin solving our problems and reinventing society – becoming profitable over time. Open AI was founded in 2015 and was going nowhere until recently. Now it’s the most valuable company in the world. With perseverance, companies can suddenly be worth hundreds of billions – even trillions – of dollars.”

What to watch out for at Expand North Star 2024?

Throughout its four-day duration, Expand North Star casts a unique and insightful spotlight on the future of money, blockchain, creativity, and the planet through industry-defining events, including GITEX Impact (http://apo-opa.co/4eZh8ji), Fintech Surge (http://apo-opa.co/483f8Ex), Future Blockchain Summit (http://apo-opa.co/4f657c1), and Marketing Mania (http://apo-opa.co/4f032OG).

The inaugural Tech Transfer 3.0 (http://apo-opa.co/402LDAM) converges leading research labs, visionary scientists, engineers, tech experts, and academics to demonstrate innovation from concept to real-world applications. This event welcomes high-tech institutions for the first time – including IE University, University College London (UCL), Johns Hopkins University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The globally acclaimed Supernova Challenge 2.0 (http://apo-opa.co/3BG1JpD) also presents the best startups from Europe, Asia, and Africa, building momentum for the new and eagerly awaited GITEX EUROPE Berlin, GITEX ASIA Singapore, GITEX NIGERIA, and GITEX AFRICA Morocco in 2025. After six months of semi-finals worldwide, nearly 200 selected startups will pitch in the global grand finale for a cash prize pool of $200,000.

In a proactive and engaging way to connect the UAE’s youth with Dubai’s economic agenda, the younger generation will also be in the spotlight through GITEX YouthX Unipreneur (http://apo-opa.co/3U9LEiB) with YouthX Talks and an Educators Innovation Pitch among the schedule highlights.

Expand North Star runs concurrently with GITEX GLOBAL 2024, the world’s largest and best-rated tech and startup event taking place at DWTC from 14-18 October.

For more information, please visit: www.ExpandNorthStar.com.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).

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WARC reveals insights from the winners of the Cannes Creative Effectiveness Lions 2026

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August 12, 2026

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Cultural insights, interactive experiences, strategic creator partnerships and platform-native ideas lead to commercial success
12 August 2026 – Strategically integrating cultural insights, interactive experiences, strategic creator partnerships, and platform-native ideas into campaigns are key drivers of commercial success, according to a new report by WARC, the global authority on marketing effectiveness.

‘Creative Effectiveness Lions – Insights from the 2026 winners’, identifies trends and themes common to the winners of this year’s Cannes Creative Effectiveness Lions awards category, which rewards creativity that has also met business goals and driven sustainable impact over time.

Based on WARC’s exclusive access to the jury deliberations and analysis of the entries, the report unearths insights into what makes a campaign both creative and effective, offers a behind-the-scenes view on the strategies that led to success, and provides takeaways for advertisers, agencies, media owners, people and planet.

Commenting on the report, John Bizzell, Content Lead, WARC, said: “This year’s winning Creative Effectiveness campaigns offer valuable insights for marketers, demonstrating how creative excellence can address genuine business and social issues while delivering meaningful growth.”

On the winners, jury president Bertille Toledano, CEO, BETC, Havas Creative Middle East and President of Havas Creative Network, commented: “The jury sought to award Lions to campaigns that delivered genuine impact on real people – the kind of campaigns you would discuss with your mother over lunch. We kept in mind the Creative Effectiveness Ladder to select the most effective creative work that embodied a cultural vision and a clear sense of what the brand stands for. These are the ones I’ll be telling my mother about.”

The three key themes of the Creative Effectiveness Lions 2026 winners are:

  • Rewrite cultural rules, don’t just reflect them

Cultural insight is a strategic business tool that helps brands actively focus on what connects people, and how to respond and innovate. Brands that move beyond surface-level understanding and instead use cultural analysis strategically can unlock new opportunities for growth, relevance and differentiation.

 

Brands should prioritize activation over observation, position themselves as cultural solutions, and focus on value exchange rather than transactional relationships.

Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix winner, Three Words for insurance brand AXA by Publicis France, transformed its home insurance offering to support victims of domestic violence in France by adding the clause ‘and domestic violence’ to its contracts, enabling emergency relocations for those in need.

Gold winner Pedigree’s Caramelo campaign by AlmapBBDO São Paulo, redefined the concept of ‘pedigree’ and increased the adoption of mixed-breed dogs in Brazil, particularly the culturally significant Caramelo, expanding its total addressable market.

  • Interactive experiences foster deeper brand involvement

Turning brand assets into interactive tools enables brands to deepen engagement, foster participation and create memorable moments for audiences.

Brands should embrace direct consumer participation utilising assets, leverage data to build credibility, and implement meaningful reward mechanisms to drive engagement.

Vaseline, the trusted skin healer’s silver-winning Vaseline Verified campaign by Ogilvy Singapore, engaged directly with creators to address misinformation about its product on social media to ensure safe usage among consumers.

Furniture retailer IKEA’s Hidden Tags silver campaign in Portugal by Uzina, Lisbon, encouraged customers to discover the hidden production dates on their products to build consumer trust and reinforce long-term brand commitment.

  • Strategic creator partnerships and platform-native ideas build brands

Creators are more than paid promoters; they can be authentic advocates who add real value. Platform-specific features earn community buy-in and mean reach continues when spend stops.

Brands should focus on integration rather than interruption, look beyond simple amplification, and meet audiences where they naturally engage.

Uber Easts, the food delivery platform’s silver-winning campaign Football is for Food, by Special US, transformed its NFL sponsorship into a purchase opportunity by embedding itself into the sport, linking football with food.

Bronze-winning campaign ‘U Up?’ by Rethink Canada for IKEA leveraged multiple touchpoints to create unexpected brand interactions into points of purchase for mattresses by turning consumer insomnia into immediate conversation.

WARC’s John Bizzell added: “This year’s jury talked a lot about context, from sourcing to metrics and culture. The jury wanted to see work that included well-sourced, credible data and metrics on what was the business impact. They also wanted to see cultural context – on an international jury, not everyone may understand why an insight is so important for a brand or category. Entrants should bear these factors in mind for next year.”

The full report is available to WARC Strategy subscribers. An upcoming WARC Podcast available from 20 August will discuss the findings.

 

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ExxonMobil’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Breakthrough Signals New Era of Digital Exploration in Guyana Ahead of Caribbean Energy Week (CEW) 2027

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August 12, 2026

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As artificial intelligence transforms upstream decision-making, Guyana’s energy sector continues to attract investment and innovation ahead of the Caribbean Energy Week 2027 In-Country Launch in Georgetown on 1 September 2026

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, August 12, 2026/APO Group/ –ExxonMobil’s announcement that artificial intelligence has identified four new exploration opportunities within Guyana’s prolific Stabroek Block marks a significant milestone in the country’s digital transformation. By applying AI to historical discoveries, drilling results and subsurface data, the company is demonstrating how advanced analytics, machine learning, high-performance computing and next-generation seismic imaging can accelerate exploration, reduce costs and improve discovery success rates.

 

The breakthrough comes as Guyana targets crude oil production of 1.3 million barrels per day by 2027 and 1.7 million barrels per day by 2030, underscoring the growing role of digital technologies in maximizing resource development alongside continued investment in drilling and infrastructure.

Against this backdrop, the Caribbean Energy Week (CEW) 2027 Guyana In-Country Launch, taking place on 1 September 2026 at the Guyana Marriott Hotel in Georgetown, will bring together operators, technology providers, geoscience companies, investors and regulators to examine the latest developments shaping Guyana’s energy sector and build momentum ahead of CEW 2027 next July. Returning for its second edition, CEW provides a premier platform for advancing investment, showcasing new projects and highlighting the technologies driving the country’s next phase of upstream growth.

Momentum behind AI adoption continues to build. In May 2026, ExxonMobil Vice President of Exploration John Ardill confirmed the company was expanding its use of deep learning, machine learning and high-performance computing to analyze seismic data and identify hydrocarbon-bearing prospects that were previously more difficult to evaluate.

The company is simultaneously advancing an ambitious offshore drilling program. This month, ExxonMobil commenced new drilling activities in Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone, including the Whiptail development well and Rockhead-1 exploration well. Earlier this year, the company also sought environmental authorization for the Haimara gas-condensate development and has proposed a 35-well drilling campaign between 2028 and 2033, reinforcing confidence in Guyana’s long-term exploration potential.

These developments are creating growing opportunities for AI developers, digital technology providers, seismic specialists, engineering firms and oilfield service companies that can support increasingly data-driven exploration and field development activities.

As the first official milestone on the road to Caribbean Energy Week 2027, the Georgetown launch will provide a platform for industry leaders to examine the technologies, partnerships and investment strategies driving Guyana’s next phase of growth while strengthening collaboration across the Caribbean energy sector.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital & Power.

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SOKOYO Advances Global Solar Street Lighting Capabilities

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August 12, 2026

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BEIJING, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 12 August 2026 – SOKOYO, a top manufacturer of solar street lights, has installed 252 sets of lighting units in QatarEnergy’s solar power project in Ras Laffan and Masaieed in Qatar.

Installation of SOKOYO’s split solar street lights for the project being built by Samsung C&T Corp. was completed in July. The arrangement of solar panels was customized at the customer’s request for ease of maintenance.

“SOKOYO provided us with a specially customized solution for our power station,” said Ms. Kathy, senior procurement manager for Samsung. “The entire solar street lighting system consistently met our expectations for brightness, battery life and overall reliability.”

SOKOYO, founded in 2008, has manufactured more than 1 million lighting units installed in a wide range of settings across SoutheastAsia, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

The company manufactures its own LED modules, solar panels, batteries, light housings and light poles. They have third-party certification for European Union and other safety and reliability standards, which qualifies them for export to global markets.

SOKOYO is regularly appointed to bodies that establish national and industry standards.

SOKOYO’s product line includes all-in-one solar street lights, all-in-two solar street lights and split-type solar street lights. They can be controlled remotely with IoT technology to improve safety and efficiency. Using solar power makes them immune to disruptions in supplies of oil and gas.

As the industry evolves to focus on “system-level R&D,” SOKOYO is reducing customer costs by enhancing reliability and resistance to heat and cold. To improve efficiency, it is developing smart lighting and IoT applications. It is promoting modular production, intelligent manufacturing and standardized process management.

The research team has seven engineers, some with more than two decades of industry experience. They develop technology for a wide range of environments and customer needs.

SOKOYO has experience in markets including Thailand, thePhilippines, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. It has developed technology to cope with heat, humidity, sandstorms and low light during extended rains, a challenge in central Africa and other areas.

In Uganda, SOKOYO supplied 1,000 light sets to help improve safety on a busy expressway between the capital, Kampala, and the eastern industrial center of Jinja. They provide the first nighttime lighting on a 22-kilometer section of road crowded with trucks, buses and motorcycles.

In Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, SOKOYO lights use LED modules developed to cope with heat, sun and sand.

The company supplied more than 2,000 light units to Saudi Arabia’s planned high-tech city of NEOM as part of the Saudi 2030 Vision plan.

Customers can use SOKOYO’s test facilities to try out different light configurations. Lights can be tested on roads of up to four lanes in an1,100-square-meter darkroom. Designers and urban planners can ensure light is distributed effectively, eliminating dark areas on the road and improving safety.

Batteries are tested to confirm they resist crushing, heat and cold, vibration, overcharging or being dropped. LED modules are drenched in salt spray for up to 72 hours to make sure they resist corrosion.

SOKOYO has been chosen for bodies that formulated eight national and industry standards including the “General Technical Specification for Solar Photovoltaic Lighting Devices” in 2025 with definitions and standards for split-type and integrated solar devices.

SOKOYO products have third-party certification that they meet standards of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and other bodies.Its batteries meet the requirements of the CB scheme under the IEC, recognized in more than 50 countries. Tests confirm they withstand overcharging, high temperature, vibration, impact and short circuit.

The company’s solar panels received IEC certification that they meet standards for electric shock protection, temperature changes, damp, heat, humidity, hail impact and other factors.

SOKOYO participates in efforts to improve the industry’s reputation by promoting “zero false labeling” and reliable products that refuse to cut corners.

SOKOYO pays attention to the environment. Its products are designed to minimize light pollution and limit disruption for wildlife, stargazers and the public.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

 

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