Connect with us
Anglostratits

Events

Expand North Star 2025 by GITEX GLOBAL opens today, celebrating ten years of startup innovation with its biggest edition yet

Published

on

GITEX GLOBAL

Expand North Star by GITEX GLOBAL (https://ExpandNorthStar.comis officially underway in the UAE as the world’s largest startup and investor connector event launched its landmark 10th anniversary in thrilling fashion on Sunday alongside thousands of local and international visitors.

Organised by Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), and hosted by the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy, Expand North Star 2025 runs at Dubai Harbour from 12-15 October – convening leading founders, investors, entrepreneurs, business executives, and strategic public-private partners from across the globe. Its four-day programme is poised to elevate funding, scaling, and deal-flow levels – catalysing new partnerships and driving inclusive digital growth across emerging AI economies.

The UAE: Charting a Course to Global Startup Supremacy  

Since debuting in 2016, Expand North Star has become an epicentre of collaboration and investment – providing an inclusive global platform from which 8,000+ founders have scaled their businesses over the years. Building on this success, the 2025 edition connects over 2,000 of the world’s most disruptive startups with 1,200 international investors managing US$1.1 trillion in assets.

With the highest percentage of growth and late-stage startups anywhere, the event showcases the most disruptive solutions and projects spanning AI, climate tech, deep tech, digital health, and fintech. This follows the recently announced ‘The Emirates: The Startup Capital of the World’, a new initiative aimed at positioning the UAE as the world’s leading startup hub.

Reflecting the government’s ambition to foster innovation and attract global talent, the initiative aims to generate 30,000 new jobs by 2030 and create at least 10 unicorns – companies with valuations exceeding US$1 billion – by 2031.

Discussing the UAE’s AI strategy and vision during a keynote address, His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, stated: “We don’t think like other countries; we think in multidecade intervals. We started investing in AI in 2008 – very early days. Abu Dhabi was investing in chips, in global countries, in companies that were focused on AI. Nobody expected that we could be a key player in the domain of AI. Against all odds, we are proving that we can. This is going to incentivise everyone – East and West.

H.E. Al Olama added: “It’s important for us to not only succeed, but for everyone who comes to the UAE to help us understand what we can do better. We do not claim to know it all – we claim to be the best students and the best listeners. One thing we promise is that if people come to us with advice, we are going to take it seriously and ensure that it’s implemented in the coming years.”

During a session titled ‘Scaling a digital future: How will emerging tech redraw the startup map of the next decade’, Hatem Dowidar, Global CEO of e&, said: “As the landscape evolves and technology and customer needs change, we may also see pivots and potential changes in companies’ investment criteria. There’s also 5G standalone – or 5.5G – this is something certain to enable a lot of new businesses, including startups. We also have to make sure that we are governing AI in the proper way to ensure data integrity and privacy. For example, within our ecosystem, we have implemented a full AI governance system that ensures data anonymity and customer privacy.”

The Presight AI-Startup Accelerator: A Springboard to Real Business and Global Reach  

As the landscape evolves and technology and customer needs change, we may also see pivots and potential changes in companies’ investment criteria

Among the UAE’s most celebrated enterprises participating is Presight, a G42 company and the region’s largest big data analytics company. One year on from the 2024 edition – where the Presight AI-Startup Accelerator was launched to nurture and accelerate early-stage ventures – the programme’s first cohorts with market-ready prototypes were unveiled.

The Presight AI-Startup Accelerator is the UAE’s first dedicated AI acceleration programme and the first created by a publicly-listed Middle Eastern technology company, leveraging Presight’s technical expertise, enterprise partnerships, and customer ecosystem to provide startups with direct commercial pathways and access to world-class infrastructure and mentorship opportunities.

Thomas Pramotedham, CEO of Presight, revealed: “There are many accelerator programmes around the world, but what’s different about ours is that we are creating a global platform. The UAE and Abu Dhabi has become the AI capital – and this is where technology and innovation meets. With G42’s ecosystem and the UAE’s reach, we offer our cohorts not only compute and expertise – but real business. And since then, they have met ambassadors, enterprises, and key stakeholders from the public and private sectors.”

The showcase underscored Presight’s growing influence in propelling the UAE’s AI innovation landscape, featuring 10 high-potential startups from around the world developing AI solutions with real-world impact.

Pramotedham’s participation coincided with Presight signing a partnership with the UAE Cybersecurity Council – one of many collaborations signed on a momentous opening day.

Prior to the signing, Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security for the UAE Government, elaborated on the influence of entrepreneurs in supporting the national security mandate, stating: “Cybersecurity is firmly rooted in the DNA of everything that we do. Amidst so many technological aspects – be it AI today, quantum tomorrow, or something else in the future – safety and security will always be one of the main pillars to elevate and enhance next-generation startups and ensure people utilise technologies in the best ways possible. As a nation, our digital transformation focuses on the human-centric factor – and we see so many great entrepreneurs and aspirational thinkers supporting our national security and critical infrastructure.”

Brazil: An Innovation Powerhouse Building Bridges with the World  

With representation from 180 countries, 2025 is a record-breaking year for international participation at Expand North Star – where ApexBrasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, is the first-ever Country Partner. Across two pavilions, 55 startups and innovation hubs – specialising in AI, fintech, and more – are showcasing how Brazil is driving innovation and creating tech solutions for global challenges.

Convening Pioneering Unicorns and Visionary International Investors 

Expand North Star 2025 presents its largest-ever unicorn showcase with 40+ companies. Among those receiving significant attention were PsiQuantum (USA), a US$68 billion unicorn architecting the first fault-tolerant quantum system, and talabat (Kuwait), the MENA region’s leading on-demand online ordering and delivery platform valued at US$8.5 billion.

Others included Andalusia Labs (UAE), a global leader in digital asset risk infrastructure and one of the fastest unicorns in history – a billion-dollar company within 11 months of launching – and Carousell (Singapore), one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing e-commerce platforms.

From Europe and North America to Asia and the Middle East, Expand North Star also hosts the world’s most prominent multinational banking, venture capital, and investment institutions searching for the next era-defining ventures shaping the future of technology and innovation.

These include JP Morgan (USA), Daiwa Capital Management (Japan), Eurazeo (France), Octopus Energy Generation (UK), Qatar National Bank (Qatar), Raiffeisenbank (Austria), Samsung Ventures (Japan), and SBI Ventures (Germany).

Expand North Star 2025 continues on Tuesday.

For more information, please visit: https://ExpandNorthStar.com.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Expand North Star.

Home  Facebook

Energy

Guyana Confirmed to Host Caribbean Energy Week 2027 as Regional Energy Integration Gains Momentum

Published

on

Guyana

The second annual Caribbean Energy Week will take place in July 2027 in Guyana under the patronage of President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali and the endorsement of The Honorable Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat, bringing together global investors and regional leaders to advance oil, gas and LNG development

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, May 25, 2026/APO Group/ –The second annual Caribbean Energy Week (CEW) will take place in Guyana in July 2027, convening regional governments, international energy companies and investors at a pivotal moment for the Caribbean’s emergence as a global energy hub. Held under the patronage of President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali and with the endorsement of The Honorable Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat, the event highlights the country’s growing leadership in shaping the region’s energy future.

 

Under the theme, “Unlocking the Caribbean Energy Corridor: Oil, Gas, LNG & Investment for a New Global Hub,” CEW 2027 will focus on transforming the Caribbean from a set of fragmented markets into an integrated, globally competitive energy corridor. Central to this vision is deeper cross-border collaboration, accelerated infrastructure development and increased capital flows across the oil, gas and LNG value chains.

We are seeing unprecedented upstream growth in Guyana, major project development in Suriname and renewed momentum around regional gas and LNG integration in Trinidad and Tobago

Momentum across the region continues to build. In Guyana, offshore production from the ExxonMobil-led Stabroek Block averaged approximately 914,000 barrels per day in the first quarter of 2026, with output expected to exceed one million barrels per day following the startup of the Uaru development. At the same time, upstream expansion remains robust, supported by new seismic campaigns, FPSO developments and ongoing work tied to the Longtail project. In neighboring Suriname, TotalEnergies is advancing its $10.5 billion GranMorgu offshore development alongside new exploration activity, underscoring sustained investor confidence in the Guyana-Suriname Basin and reinforcing the region’s long-term growth trajectory.

In Trinidad and Tobago, the focus is shifting toward revitalizing mature gas production through new upstream partnerships and cross-border developments, including progress on projects such as Manatee and increased collaboration with Venezuela to unlock stranded reserves. At the same time, the country is advancing efforts to expand its LNG and petrochemical value chains, positioning itself to remain a key gas processing and export hub in the Atlantic Basin.

“We are seeing unprecedented upstream growth in Guyana, major project development in Suriname and renewed momentum around regional gas and LNG integration in Trinidad and Tobago,” said James Chester, CEO of Energy Capital & Power, the event organizer. “Caribbean Energy Week 2027 is about connecting those opportunities – bringing together governments, operators and investors to unlock a truly integrated energy corridor that can compete on the global stage.”

The inaugural Caribbean Energy Week in 2026 laid a strong foundation, attracting more than 400 attendees and over 90 companies, alongside high-level ministers and industry leaders from across the region and beyond. Hosted in Paramaribo, the event facilitated critical dialogue on cooperation, investment and infrastructure, while also serving as a platform for deal-making and knowledge exchange.

Building on this momentum, CEW 2027 is set to expand in both scale and impact, offering a premier platform for strategic dialogue, project showcases and investment engagement. As global demand for diversified energy supply grows, the Caribbean is increasingly well-positioned to play a central role – one defined by collaboration, connectivity and opportunity.

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

Continue Reading

Events

Canon Demonstrates Print’s ‘Power to Move’ with On-Stand Experience and Latest Large Format Technologies at Federation of European Screen Printers Associations (FESPA) Global Print Expo 2026

Published

on

Canon

Visitors experienced Canon Imaging Supplies’ wide format media portfolio for visual communications, supporting applications from signage and posters to wall coverings, textiles, and backlit displays

At FESPA 2026, we created an experience designed to support PSPs and packaging converters to make confident decisions when looking for the right technologies and partners

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, May 25, 2026/APO Group/ —At FESPA Global Print Expo, 19th-22nd May 2026, Stand 2-E20 in Barcelona, Canon (www.Canon-CNA.com) showcased how its wide-format production technologies and customer-led approach combine to create bold, high-impact prints that transform spaces and connect with audiences, delivering real business impact. Under the theme ‘Move your World’, Canon re-emphasised the commercial potential and positive momentum that speciality print businesses can gain. Visitors not only saw a curated selection of real-world applications from across the retail, interior décor, point of sale (POS), corrugated and packaging segments, but also gained valuable and practical expert advice on how to bring those applications to life. The selection of prints and tactile applications created on Canon’s portfolio of high-performance production technologies for large-format print, including Arizona, Colorado, and imagePROGRAF printers, displayed in a visual and interactive sensory gallery on stand.

 

Making its European event debut, the new Colorado XL-series 3.4 m printer demonstrated its versatility and exceptional productivity by producing both flexible and rigid media applications live throughout the show. From signage and décor to point of sale and packaging, the printer extends the proven advantages of Canon’s UVgel technology to the 3.2 m graphics market, delivering application versatility across a comprehensive range of media. From banner, paper, vinyl and films to soft signage, heat-sensitive materials, foam board, fluted polypropylene, acrylic and aluminium composite boards, print service providers (PSPs) have the flexibility to tackle diverse customer requirements. With print speeds of 70m² per hour in quality mode, 106m² per hour in production mode and up to 211m² per hour in express mode, the system delivers the productivity needed for demanding production environments while accommodating substrates up to 52mm thick for rigid applications.

Flexibility Through Partnerships

The momentum Canon created for its customers was achieved through a rich ecosystem of trusted technology and media partners. This ecosystem was fundamental to Canon’s presence at FESPA 2026 and was celebrated in all areas of the stand and in how technologies are located across the show.

Located between the Canon and Fotoba partner stands, was Canon’s award-winning Colorado M-series roll-to-roll printer in a UVgel Factory for Wallpaper configuration. The set-up produced a range of applications – from personalised wallpapers to wrapping papers, to show and inspire the breadth of versatility and commercial scope of mass customisation that it can deliver. The system provides a fully modular solution for mass-customised, automated wallpaper production, with UVgel technology at its core, comprising a Colorado M5W roll-to-roll printer with a Fotoba jumbo roll JRL media feeder, output cutter and rewinding taping unit.

The global demand for customised packaging and wallcovering is rapidly growing, and with the Canon UVgel Factory for Wallpaper, possibilities are endless – from traditional wallpapers to murals, to short-run personalised wrapping and décor elements.

Across the aisle, on stand 2-E15, Canon partner Neolt Factory demonstrated a configuration of the recently launched ‘UVgel Factory for Posters’, comprising a Colorado M-series printer with jumbo roll loader, cutter and stacker. Here, visitors were able to observe the productive, highly automated, on-demand poster production system creating an array of Barcelona-inspired posters.

Canon AI Tactile Studio

Canon experts hosted a series of ‘AI Tactile Studio’ sessions at set times throughout the show. Held at a dedicated area on the stand, the 1-2-1 demonstrations showed how the simple workflow fostered creative freedom and enabled users to easily create unique tactile prints produced using the latest Canon technologies.

Workflows Engineered for Flexibility and Ease of Use 

Supporting print demonstrations across all printers is Canon’s PRISMA XL Suite of workflow solutions. PRISMA XL is an open, flexible workflow that integrates seamlessly with existing systems while supporting PSPs to deliver first-time-right prints and simpler production, even across complex jobs – from file preparation to printing the job, through to shipment. Complementing Canon’s solutions on stand were Canon’s software partners, such as OneVision and Onyx, demonstrating how an open, non-proprietary approach to workflow solutions can increase operational flexibility and profitability.

Visitors experienced Canon Imaging Supplies’ wide format media portfolio for visual communications, supporting applications from signage and posters to wall coverings, textiles, and backlit displays. The range helped print service providers deliver consistent, professional results while offering sustainable media choices, including PolyVinyl Chloride (PVC) free large format graphic media.

Speaking about the show, Tushar Vaishnavi, Business Unit Director for B2B, Canon CCNA says, “At FESPA 2026, we created an experience designed to support PSPs and packaging converters to make confident decisions when looking for the right technologies and partners to support their next steps. This fresh approach saw each part of the stand carefully designed to reflect core business priorities for decision makers – from new commercial opportunities to ways to futureproof their businesses. Through an array of impactful applications created using Canon’s UVgel, true flatbed Arizona, imagePROGRAF and workflow technologies, FESPA visitors saw clear proof of the exciting future of large format print and packaging. Whether you’re a packaging converter or a signage and graphics producer, with the right partner, print has the power to transform spaces and campaigns and to move customers and consumers, delivering real business impact and long-term growth opportunities.”

Aligning with FESPA’s theme of ‘The Place for Experts’, Canon was also a Gold Sponsor at this year’s co-located ‘Corrugated 2026’ exhibition, stand 3/B150a.

There, visitors were able to speak to Canon corrugated experts and learn more about its technologies for this market, including:

  • Canon’s next-generation, digital corrugated press, the corrPRESS iB17, which combines high-end graphic quality with industrial productivity and smart manufacturing flexibility. The press uses water-based inks and 1200 dpi resolution printheads that support high graphic standards and indirect food compliance. Delivering up to 8,000 sqm/h output on sheet sizes up to 1.70 × 1.30m, the corrPRESS iB17 enables efficient, scalable digital production.
  • Current printing solutions for prototypes, mock-ups and ultra-short runs of printed corrugated packaging. This includes the Canon Arizona series of true flatbed printers and the UVgel Factory for Packaging (based on the Canon Colorado M-series printer) for pre-print corrugated.

To find out more about Canon’s wide-format and packaging portfolio, supporting technologies and the full list of covered applications, please visit each dedicated product page:

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA).

Continue Reading

Energy

TotalEnergies Expands Angola Offshore Strategy as Martin Deffontaines Returns to Angola Oil & Gas (AOG) 2026

Published

on

TotalEnergies

TotalEnergies is spearheading a diverse investment approach in Angola, targeting frontier opportunities while scaling brownfield production

Martin Deffontaines, Country Manager for Angola at energy major TotalEnergies has been confirmed as a speaker at the Angola Oil & Gas (AOG) Conference and Exhibition – taking place September 9­­–10 with a pre-conference day on September 8. His participation comes at a pivotal time for the company as it expands its offshore strategy and is expected to provide insight into how one of the industry’s leading operators is positioning itself for Angola’s next phase of offshore growth.

TotalEnergies is driving a multi-faceted exploration and production strategy in Angola, balancing brownfield optimization with frontier exploration and large-scale deepwater developments. As one of the country’s biggest oil producers, the company’s recent investments signal a long-term commitment to the market as well as its broader ambitions to support Angola’s goals of sustaining production above one million barrels per day (bpd).

At the core of this strategy is unlocking additional value from producing assets. Just this month, the company signed a Principles Agreement with the National Oil, Gas & Biofuels Agency (ANPG) to extend its license for Block 32 to 2043. The agreement establishes the general terms for the continuous development of the block, while outlining the possible application of the Incremental Production Decree to bolster production. Block 32 is one of the country’s biggest producing assets, covering six fields and featuring the Kaombo project.

Beyond operational assets, TotalEnergies is pursuing new frontiers in Angola. The company signed an agreement in March 2026 with the ANPG and ExxonMobil for the allocation of four blocks in the Benguela and Namibe Basins – namely 40, 41, 42 and 58. The agreement lays the foundation for the signing of the respective contracts for the blocks. This follows another agreement signed in 2025 between TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil and the ANPG for the study and evaluation of the Free Areas of Blocks 17/06 and 32/21 – two of the country’s longest-producing assets. The agreement aims to identify new leads across the blocks, supporting future production growth.

The company’s ongoing project portfolio further highlights the scale of its ambitions in Angola. Central to this is the Kaminho deepwater project – the first major deepwater development in the Kwanza Basin. Representing a $6 billion investment, the project is expected to produce approximately 70,000 bpd through an FPSO designed with lower-emission technologies. FID was reached in 2024, with production on track for 2028. Kaminho builds on TotalEnergies recent project momentum, which saw two offshore projects start operations in 2025. The Begonia and CLOV Phase 3 developments added 60,000 bpd to the company’s Angolan portfolio, cementing its position as a major operator.

Deffontaines’ participation at AOG 2026 comes as these themes move to the forefront of Angola’s oil and gas agenda. As one of the country’s largest international investors, TotalEnergies continues to shape discussions around production sustainability, exploration strategy and offshore project economics. His presence at the event underscores both the scale of the opportunity and the growing international confidence in Angola’s deepwater market.

 

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

Continue Reading

Trending