Masdar City and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have signed a memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the staging of an International Exchange Sprint (IES) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of the AWS Clean Energy Accelerator 3.0. Geographic hotspots for clean energy technology innovation are selected as locations for an AWS Clean Energy Accelerator IES.
In the UAE Pavilion at the UN Climate Change Conference 2022, Dr. Lamya Fawwaz, Executive Director of Brand and Strategic Initiatives at Masdar, and Kara Hurst, Vice President of Worldwide Sustainability at Amazon, signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
The proposed collaboration will bring an IES of the AWS Clean Energy Accelerator 3.0 to Masdar City in the fourth quarter of next year, coinciding with COP28, which is being held in the UAE.
Start-ups selected for the AWS Clean Energy Accelerator 3.0 will receive technical, business, and go-to-market mentorship from AWS; and up to $100,000 each in AWS Credit through AWS Activate to kick-start their data and operations transformation on AWS.
According to Ahmed Baghoum, Executive Director of Masdar City,
“The MoU would further reinforce Masdar City’s standing as a hub for clean energy-technology innovation and complement its ongoing efforts to nurture clean-tech start-ups in the Middle East.”
Following the MoU signing, Kara Hurst joined Her Highness Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan Al Nahyan, Executive Director of the UAE Independent Climate Change Accelerators (UICCA), for a discussion about the role of clean energy technology in the race to net zero, and the launch of the AWS Clean Energy Accelerator 3.0.
AWS Clean Energy Accelerator 3.0 applications will be accepted through January 1, 2023. Startups selected for the AWS Clean Energy Accelerator 3.0 will be announced on March 6, and the program will begin in Seattle, USA, BEGINNING in the second quarter of 2023.