Connect with us

Technology

UNLOCK Blockchain Forum attracts over 500 attendees

Published

on

The UNLOCK Blockchain Forum which commenced today at the Ritz Carlton Hotel DIFC and which will continue until January 15th 2018 has proven once again that Dubai is a vanguard when it comes to attracting innovative experts, blockchain start-ups, and forward looking attendees.
Al-Iktissad-Wal-Aamal, the organizers of UNLOCK Blockchain forum were not surprised to receive more than 60 blockchain start-ups from more than 39 countries, as well as more than 40 prominent expert speakers, and more than 500 participants.
HE Dr. Aisha Bint Buti Bin Bisher, Director General of Smart Dubai, the office driving Dubai’s city-wide transformation delivered her keynote speech at the opening. HE stated, “Guided by the example of our nation’s leadership, we have learned to continually look to the horizon to start creating the future today. And while others were still debating the prospects of this new technology, we got to work. We are making Dubai the blockchain capital of the world, we have 20 public sector Blockchain use cases and it’s only the beginning”.
“Dubai took the forward-thinking approach and broke ground on the bold Dubai Blockchain Strategy, and by supporting events such as the UNLOCK Blockchain Forum, we are building a platform to share our learnings and prepare Dubai, and the world, for the future of Blockchain.” HE added.
Walid Abou Zaki, executive director, Al-Iktissad-Wal-Aamal stated, “When I first heard the word blockchain I knew it was a game changer, and we at Iktissad Wal Aamal endeavour to learn and understand our topics in-depth because we see ourselves as more than just event organizers. We are proud today to say that our efforts have met with success not only in terms of quantity but the quality of participation and the content being discussed. We believe that the next step in the right direction will entail creating the right regulations for Initial Crowd Funding ICOs as this will attract serious blockchain start-ups as well as position Dubai uniquely.”
The first session of UNLOCK took a close look into blockchain on the eve of its 9th anniversary. Renowned speakers such as Oliver Bussmann, CEO of Bussmann Advisory, James Wallis, VP Blockchain IBM, Dr. Abdulla Kablan Blockchain Advisor to the government of Malta discussed together which platforms would prevail, what forms of blockchain would take precedence over others and how the future of blockchain platforms would evolve.
The second panel at UNLOCK delved into the topic of how to create successful blockchain implementations. Zeina Al Kaissi, Head of Emerging Technology and Global partnerships, Smart Dubai, Andrea Tinianow Director of Global Delaware, Founding Director of Delaware Blockchain initiative, Vincent Wang Chief Innovation officer Wanxiang holdings China and other prominent speakers discussed examples of real hands on blockchain implementation projects and how those projects differed from traditional implementations. They also offered key learning’s and advice for those who endeavour to implement blockchain in the near future.
Ramez Dandan, National Technology Officer, Microsoft Gulf stated, “Investment in blockchain, across the GCC and beyond, is ramping up at an impressive rate, as organisations recognise it for the disruptive digital transformation technology that it is. Microsoft’s participation in UNLOCK follows its commitment in Feb 2016 to the Dubai Future Foundation’s Global Blockchain Council because we strongly believe in the technology’s immense potential for enterprises of all scales and industries. It allows them to share business processes with suppliers, customers and partners, leading to new opportunities for multi-party collaboration and, eventually, exciting new business models.”
Hon Silvio Schembri, Parliament Secretary for financial services and digital Economy and Innovation, Prime Minister Office Malta, provided a keynote on what Malta has accomplished so far with Blockchain. Security expert from DarkMatter Mr. Jason Cooper, Blockchain Specialist delivered a keynote on how using Blockchain can streamline government and cities securely.
The afternoon sessions at UNLOCK saw two tracks. Panel discussions centered on Blockchain and the utilities sector. Mr. Mahmoud Abu Fadda, Senior specialist Innovation and Future at DEWA talked about DEWA’s future plans to create electric vehicles charging using Blockchain. The session also included speakers from Sun Exchange and Ambrosus.
The panel session Dubai the next Blockchain startup valley, witnessed an announcement by Ralf Glabischnig, Managing Partner, Inacta; Partner, Lakeside Partners; Co- Founder of Crypto Valley Labs, Switzerland for the intention to open Crypo Valley labs for Blockchain start-ups and entrepeneurs in Dubai.
In parallel sessions, startups were showcasing how they successfully built Blockchain solutions to solve the problems facing our societies and economies of today. Blockchain startups ranging from Malaysia, UK, Russia, and even Estonia were among speakers in these sessions. Some prominent startups included Naked Technologies, Credits, threefold, Acorn Collective and Echarge. Other startups sessions centered on what Blockchain was doing for healthcare sector. Curecoin, medicalchain, and Etheal were some of the startups presenting.
Day One ended with Mr. Bussmann keynote speech that stressed on how one can stay ahead of the Digital disruption curve. As he stated, “The central business logic of today is being replace by Smart Contracts. First Blockchain movers are focusing on selective & existing cases into production with the highest benefit impact. The convergence of emerging technologies will blur the lines between industries in a highly connected real-time world.” He also gave many examples of what Blockchain startups are doing in the realm of trade, finance, and food supply.
The second day of UNLOCK Blockchain will see interesting panels on Banking, real-estate, smart city Blockchain implementations as well as more startup sessions.

Tech News

The Executive Health Upgrade: Why Personalized Prevention Is the UAE’s Next Premium Category

Published

on

How Prana AI + SindyXR Want to Make Personalized Health Routine in the UAE

By Integrator Web Editor

Most healthcare is built for emergencies. But the biggest risks to long-term health often develop quietly—sleep debt, metabolic drift, chronic stress, early cardiovascular strain. Prana AI and SindyXR are building a UAE-first model that treats health like a modern dashboard: establish your baseline, detect drift early, and guide course-correction through an AI “longevity OS” paired with concierge support.

The UAE is rapidly becoming a proving ground for next-generation, consumer-friendly health models that blend premium services with data-driven personalization. This article explores a shift underway in Dubai and the wider Emirates: moving from reactive, appointment-led care toward continuous, proactive “health operating systems.” Prana AI and SindyXR are among the emerging players aiming to productize prevention—making personal health measurable, understandable, and easier to follow through on.

“Most healthcare is built for emergencies. Personalized health is built for trajectory.” – Christopher M. Hill, Board Chair, President, and CEO of SindyXR

From Firefighting to Flight-Checking

Most of us treat health like a fire alarm: we respond when it’s loud enough to ignore. A symptom appears, we book an appointment, get a prescription or advice, and move on. That model isn’t “bad”—it’s just built for a different job.

Reactive healthcare is excellent at handling acute problems. But the biggest threats to long-term wellbeing often don’t arrive with sirens. They creep in quietly: chronic stress patterns, sleep erosion, metabolic instability, early cardiovascular risk, burnout. By the time something becomes obvious, the fix is harder, slower, and more expensive.

This is why “personalized health”—often described as preventive, longevity-focused, or precision wellness—is accelerating globally. The promise is simple and non-medical: know your baseline, track changes over time, and act early with clarity.

In the UAE, where performance, pace, global mobility, and high expectations are everyday realities, that promise is especially relevant. People want health experiences that match how they actually live: fast, discreet, premium, and practical—with minimal friction and real follow-through.

Personalized Health, Explained Without the White Coat

Personalized health doesn’t require a medical degree to understand. It’s a system that does four things well:

  • Establishes your baseline — a clear snapshot of how your body is functioning today.
  • Detects drift over time — what’s improving, what’s stuck, what’s slipping.
  • Translates data into action — simple, tailored steps you can actually do.
  • Keeps you consistent — so improvements don’t fade after a “good month.”

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s trajectory. You’re not trying to “win health.” You’re trying to reduce risk and increase resilience—month after month.

“Think of it as a health command center: baseline, drift detection, and guided course-correction.” – Charles Cavo, DO Co-founder, Pounds Transformation

Why the UAE Is Ready for This Category

Dubai and the wider UAE are fertile ground for this model for three reasons:

  • High intent: Many professionals already invest in fitness, nutrition, mental performance, recovery, and longevity practices.
  • High friction: Even motivated people struggle to stay consistent when travel, deadlines, and family responsibilities pile up.
  • High expectations: Premium experience isn’t a “nice to have” in the UAE; it’s a baseline for adoption.

Most people don’t need more information. They need a system that makes follow-through easier than falling off track.

That’s the core thesis behind Prana AI + SindyXR: the real disruption isn’t “one more health test.” It’s a repeatable operating model around the person that converts insight into sustained action.

Prana AI + SindyXR: A Hybrid ‘Longevity Concierge’ Built for Busy Lives

The Prana AI + SindyXR approach can be understood as three layers working together—each solving a different part of the real-world problem.

Layer 1: Precision diagnostics (the baseline)

This is the “what’s happening inside my body?” layer—advanced diagnostics designed to establish a meaningful baseline across key health domains. Not just a basic annual check, but a deeper view intended to help identify risk patterns early and prioritize what matters now.

Crucially, the output has to be readable, not intimidating: scores, trends, and plain-language insights that allow non-medical professionals to understand what they should focus on—without getting buried in numbers.

Layer 2: Prana AI as the Personal Longevity OS (the daily system)

This is where personalization becomes real. Many wellness apps can nudge, but they often lack context—your baseline and your changes over time.

Prana AI’s role is to function like a health command center:

  • Daily routines that fit real schedules (sleep, movement, recovery, nutrition prompts)
  • Wearable integration where available (to track trends, not obsess over single readings)
  • Progress tracking that emphasizes trajectory (what’s changing, what isn’t)
  • Quarterly and annual comparisons to identify drift early

The design intent is simple: reduce decisions. When people are busy, friction kills follow-through. The “OS” needs to feel like a co-pilot—not a second job.

Layer 3: SindyXR concierge + expert ecosystem (the follow-through engine)

The uncomfortable truth about health is that many people already know what to do. The problem is friction:

  • booking
  • scheduling
  • follow-up
  • accountability
  • decision fatigue

SindyXR’s concierge layer aims to handle the “life admin” of better health—connecting users to curated experts, creating structured sessions, enabling community learning (webinars and roundtables), and coordinating next steps so momentum doesn’t fade.

This is the difference between:

  • “I should do something about this,” and
  • “It’s scheduled, guided, and underway.”

“The innovation isn’t one more test—it’s the operating model around the person.” – Sumit Puri, CEO & Co-Founder, Prana AI

The Closed Loop Most Health Experiences Don’t Deliver

Here’s what separates a premium testing service from a real system: the loop.

Most offerings stop at “test + report.” Some add “test + report + generic advice.”

The Prana AI + SindyXR model is designed to deliver a full cycle:

In other words:

  • you don’t just learn your numbers,
  • you change the trajectory, and
  • you prove it over time.

That loop is the true product: a repeatable “operating model” for personal health.

Who It’s For First: The Executive Longevity Circle

The initial positioning is clear: this is built for people who are time-poor, performance-driven, and outcome-focused—CXOs, founders, board-level leaders, and globally mobile professionals (often 45+).

It’s a pragmatic wedge. High-touch membership models can:

  • protect quality while the system is refined,
  • build trust through experience rather than marketing,
  • generate credible outcomes stories (the only marketing that matters in health).

From there, the model can expand into broader segments and partnerships—especially in an environment like the UAE where premium experience and measurable outcomes are powerful adoption catalysts.

The Trust Test: No Magic Claims, Just Clear Guardrails

AI in health is powerful—and sensitive. Adoption depends on trust:

  • What is informational vs diagnostic?
  • How is data stored and consent managed?
  • How are recommendations explained?
  • Where does clinician oversight come in?

The healthiest framing is simple: AI doesn’t replace doctors. It reduces noise, spots patterns, and improves follow-through. It helps people act earlier, more consistently, and with fewer blind spots.

What Success Looks Like in the UAE

If Prana AI + SindyXR execute well, the UAE could become a flagship market for a new category: personalized preventive health that feels as seamless as concierge banking.

Success won’t be measured by how “advanced” the tech sounds. It will be measured by:

  • consistent engagement over months (not weeks),
  • measurable improvement in key markers,
  • fewer health surprises,
  • better energy, sleep, recovery, and resilience.

Because the future of health won’t be another appointment.

It will be a smarter system around you—quietly keeping you on course.

“The UAE is uniquely positioned to lead this shift: people here value time, discretion, and outcomes. Personalized health will win when it feels as seamless as concierge banking—and as measurable as a performance dashboard.” – Subrato Basu, Global Managing Partner, The Executive Board

Continue Reading

Tech News

AL OSTAD PALLET FACTORY APPOINTS ZAYSTACK INTELLIZENCE TO ADVISE ON DIGITISATION AND AUTOMATION PROGRAMME

Published

on

Process digitalisation programme set to create another industry benchmark for Dubai Industrial City-headquartered Al Ostad Pallet Factory

Al Ostad Pallet Factory, based in Dubai Industrial City, has appointed ZayStack Intellizence to deliver a groundbreaking programme to digitise and automate core business processes across sales, procurement, production, inventory, and delivery.

Under the agreement, ZayStack will support an initial three-month phase focused on “quick wins and foundations”, including current-state assessment, process mapping and advanced software and AI tool recommendations. The project will also see rollout of practical templates, dashboards and minimum viable automations, designed to improve visibility and accountability across operations.

The recently inked agreement is part of Al Ostad’s continuing evolution, ensuring it keeps delivering value to its ever-growing customer base, building on more than 25 years in business with strong investment in the technology-driven future of the logistics sector.

The engagement aims to help Al Ostad reduce manual, person-dependent workflows and move towards a more digitally enabled, data-driven operating model that supports long-term growth, improved decision-making, and stronger customer communication. The project will help employees understand how to use cutting-edge AI tools to increase productivity.

Alex George, Managing Director, Al Ostad Pallet Factory, said: “Al Ostad Pallet Factory has grown on the strength of operational know-how and a hands-on approach.  Now, we need to ensure our team is AI prepared, and that we all understand how to make best use of AI across our business.

“This programme is about putting the right digital foundations in place so we can improve visibility, reduce friction in day-to-day workflows, and scale with confidence, all while continuing to deliver reliably for our customers.”

Alex is keen to implement cutting-edge technologies at his 8,000 square meter DIC manufacturing facility, and is intent on becoming “best in class” for logistics and packaging solutions, aiming for the number one position regionally.

“We’re on track,” Alex says with confidence. “It’s about being ready for the future – a future where technology, sustainability, and supply chain resilience define the leaders in manufacturing. We want to be at the forefront of that shift.”

Alex believes the new workflows Zaystack will deliver will create a new industry benchmark in the region.

Tarun Malik, Partner, ZayStack Intellizence LLP, said: “Manufacturing businesses don’t need ‘digital’ for its own sake, they need practical systems that improve speed, accuracy and accountability. We’ll be working closely with Al Ostad to identify critical workflows and establish the dashboards, templates and ‘intelligent’ automation foundations that support sustainable, long-term adoption.”

The programme also includes a review of document management and IT readiness (hardware and network), with training and change-management support to help teams adopt new ways of working.

Continue Reading

Tech News

BOLT GAINS GROWTH MOMENTUM AS 1,823 NATIONAL TAXIS JOIN PLATFORM

Published

on

Marking another milestone towards shaping the future of urban mobility in the UAE, Dubai Taxi Company (DTC), together with its strategic partner Bolt, has entered into a strategic alliance with National Taxi LLC to enhance the ride-hailing experience for residents and visitors across Dubai.

The partnership was formalised through the signing of an agreement between Mansoor Rahma Alfalasi, CEO of Dubai Taxi Company, and Toufic Mitri, Managing Director of National Taxi LLC, marking a significant milestone in Dubai’s journey toward smarter, more accessible, and customer-centric transport solutions.

Under the agreement, 1,823 National Taxi vehicles will be seamlessly integrated into the Bolt platform, significantly expanding fleet capacity and service coverage. The integration will increase availability, reduce waiting times, and enhance overall operational efficiency, delivering faster ETAs and a more reliable customer experience, particularly during peak periods. The expanded fleet also supports higher driver earnings through increased trip volumes, while reinforcing Bolt’s position as a trusted and growing e-hailing platform in Dubai.

Mansoor Rahma Alfalasi, CEO of Dubai Taxi Company, said: “At DTC, we are committed to building strategic partnerships that enhance customer experience while strengthening Dubai’s mobility ecosystem. Through this collaboration, and with the addition of National taxis to our existing fleet of over 10,000 taxis on the Bolt platform, we are expanding access to taxis and embedding them more deeply into the digital ride-hailing experience. This integration brings us closer to reaching 80 percent target set by Dubai Government of converting street hailing trips to e-hailing.”

“The growing demand for taxi services in Dubai is being driven by rapid digital transformation, sustained urbanisation, strong tourism growth, and ongoing fleet modernisation, key pillars of a thriving city’s economy. By aligning our services with these drivers, we are building a resilient, future-ready mobility network that supports economic growth, improves driver opportunities, and delivers seamless journeys for residents and visitors alike.”, he added.

“We are glad to have our fleet of 1823 taxis on one of the UAE’s leading e-hailing platforms, Bolt. This partnership represents a significant step forward in optimising fleet utilisation and enhancing operational efficiency. With the smart technology and real-time demand matching capabilities of the Bolt platform, we are able to reduce idle time, improve driver productivity, and deliver faster, more reliable service to customers. Beyond efficiency, this collaboration enables us to elevate service quality while supporting more sustainable mobility through better route optimisation and reduced unnecessary mileage.”, said Toufic Mitri, Managing Director of National Taxi LLC.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2023 | The Integrator