United Arab Emirates

Hans Henrik Christensen, Director of the Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Centre, a department of the Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, has been appointed as High Commissioner for the United Arab Emirates. High Commissioner Christensen represents the United Arab Emirates in the Global Startup Committee of the Grand Assembly of the World Business Angels Investment Forum.

Hans.Henrik.Christensen@wbaforum.org
As the Director of DTEC, Hans Henrik Christensen leads a team that, with him, has built the largest and most economically impactful tech ecosystem in MENA, hosting more than 800 start-ups from 70 nationalities. The objective of DTEC is to create a sustainable, impactful entrepreneurial ecosystem of tech companies that drives innovation in the UAE. Apart from partnering with international partners such as IBM, Microsoft, SAP, du, Volkswagen, Thomson Reuters, Visa, Smart Dubai and many more, DTEC hosts the aviation and travel-tech Intelak incubator run by Emirates Airlines together with GE and Etisalat, the Intel IOT ignition lab, and the Dubai Smart City Accelerator, powered by Startupbootcamp. DTEC also acts as a start-up investor, currently with an active portfolio of 21 successful well-known start-ups: Yalla Compare, Shortpoint, Wrappup, STEP, etc. Hans has decades of business experience, building departments in MNCs and start-ups around the world. In his several positions as founder and CEO of start-ups, he attracted millions of dollars from both private and venture capital investors. He built up the first Siemens ICN nCubator in 2000, a captive incubator and one of the first incubators in Europe at the time. Its most successful venture (Garderos) was successfully spun-off   in 2001 under Hans’ leadership and attracted VC funds from SAP, Siemens Ventures, and Wellington Partner. Hans held international positions with Macquarie Technology Investments and Deutsche Leasing AG and joined DSOA in 2012. DTEC has won several awards: Arabian Business Startup Awards, 2015 Special recognition for entrepreneurial support, 2017 Best Start-up Program, 2017 Best Accelerator, Entrepreneur Agility Award, 2017 Best Start-up Hub, Islamic Economy, 2017 Best SME Supporter. He serves on the board of 11 start-ups and is a board advisor to RIT and AUE Dubai. He holds a BA in Ec/ Fi from Bentley University and an MBA from the Hult Business School. He is a sought- after speaker on entrepreneurship, corporate innovation, smart city, and blockchain AI technology and frequently assists corporations, universities and event organisers as a judge and mentor for business plan competitions.