ECA to participate in GITEX Technology Week
ABU DHABI: The Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority (ECA) announced its participation in Abu Dhabi government’s pavilion at GITEX Technology Week 2021, to be held on October 17-21, 2021, at Dubai World Trade Center. ECA intends to showcase its Anjal Z program, with the aim of instilling innovation in early childhood development (ECD) by empowering growth-stage, global startups to localize their solutions to critical ECD challenges across Abu Dhabi and the UAE.
Anjal Z refers to the generations inspired by the late founder of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The programme empowers global startups to develop effective solutions to promote ECD across the UAE, thus beter serving children and the community. The 4-month program encompasses both a virtual and an in-person program, where startups develop and implement bespoke project plans to further their localization journeys.
ECA works, through Anjal Z, on connecting startups with dedicated mentors, both ECD and innovation experts, to support project journeys. Moreover, involved startups will be provided funds in the form of a grant of up to AED 700k, in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO).
In addition to offering guidance and support to startups in seting up a local presence including the facilitation of public-private partnerships, startups will engage with interns from the Abu Dhabi Youth
Challenge, a parallel program organized as part of Anjal Z.
Seven global startups were selected to take part in Cohort 02 of Anjal Z, including Finlandway, a school-in-a-box early education franchise network that utilizes technology to transform educator training and support curriculum delivery, learning processes, learning environments and outcome documentation. Finlandway packages the best of the Finnish early childhood education system in a cost-competitive way to nurseries worldwide.
The second startup is Dobrain, an Ai-based application that offers an accessible and affordable digital cognitive learning program for young children and is designed to be an assistive tool that achieves the three goals of education, identification and therapy.
The third startup is LUXAI, through its easy to use humanoid robot, Qtrobot, improves the effectiveness of autism interventions by increasing the atention and engagement of children with autism. By empowering non-specialized caregivers and parents to deliver tailored and skill-specific autism interventions, LUXAI is making autism education scalable, accessible and affordable.
The fourth startups is Monkibox, a subscription program that supports the cognitive and motor development of babies and toddlers with sciencebacked toys and activities that turn playtime into a learning experience.