Sharjah 24: In line with the vision ‘Transforming the Future Together’, the Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park (SRTI Park) is proud to announce the winner of the Sharjah Advanced Industry Accelerator (SAIA) award.

New York-founded company Electric Visionary Aircrafts (EVA) was adjudged as the winner among global startups. EVA will receive an award valued at $100,000 while other finalists will get value-added services worth $50,000 to scale up their solutions in the UAE market.
 
EVA is an enabler for drone-applications and is working on connecting cities and countries through the creation of a network of drone control and charging stations. This drone infrastructure, according to EVA, can be leveraged for missions like medical supply and parcel delivery, disaster relief, logistics, and on-demand infrastructure inspection, among others.
 
Rigorous deliberations
In March last year, SRTI Park launched the first edition of SAIA award despite all the Covid-19 uncertainties. Over the course of eight months, more than 550 applications from 50 countries were received, then eight incredibly innovative startups were selected for the programme which concluded in December. 
 
Aside from the grand winner, Electric Visionary Aircrafts (EVA), the other finalists were: PlasticFri™, ZigZagSolar , AC Biode , Greenfluidics , Zeleros Hyperloop , Infinite Foundry, & XYZ Reality. The leading corporates that guided and collaborated with SAIA and the finalists were: Siemens , Bee'ah , WSP , Consolidated Contractors International Company , Gulftainer , Crescent Petroleum , & Jasaf Building Technology.
 
The selection for the best startup has undergone intensive deliberations. Hussain Al Mahmoudi, CEO of SRTI Park, noted: “The last few weeks have been very intense moments evaluating all the solutions and the project pitches. After rigorous deliberations by the judges of the program, the SAIA award winner will be announced soon.”
 
“Last year has been a different and complicated year for many and for this reason we value much all the exceptional work and motivation of the finalists and those who submitted their entries for the award,” he added.
 
Al Mahmoudi noted the SAIA Award, launched in March last year, attracted innovative early stage businesses in the following focus areas: Smart Construction Management, Smart Materials, Green Building, Modularization/Prefabrication, Building Information Modelling, Additive Manufacturing, Connected Infrastructures and Connected Ecosystems.
 
Moving to SRTI Park
Olivier Le Lann, CEO of EVA (Electric Visionary Aircrafts), said: “Sharjah Advanced Industry Accelerator was the natural choice to embrace the numerous opportunities in the Middle-east and beyond. We found mentors passionate about sharing their knowledge and helping us to fine tune our customer value proposition.”
 
“With SAIA support, we will now move to a full location at Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park with position in management, research and development and business. With this market entry we will deploy faster our advanced integrated drone/robots infrastructure to accomplish critical missions such as autonomous healthcare logistics,” he added.
 
Strong support to start-ups
The SAIA award is part of the SRTIP Acceleration Program aimed at supporting start ups and growth-driven companies in the region.
 
The SRTIP Acceleration Program is an industry-specific program aimed at bringing companies across the MENA region towards the 4th Industrial Revolution. It enables local and regional entrepreneurs as well as global start-ups to scale up their businesses through education, mentorship, and financing provided by the SRTI Park ecosystem and network.