ECA participates in GITEX Technology Week 2021

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, H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, The program empowers global startups to develop effective solutions to promote ECD across the UAE, thus better 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 setting 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 attention 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 science-backed toys and activities that turn playtime into a learning experience.

Meanwhile, the fifth startup is RemmedVR, a telemedicine platform for diagnostics and rehabilitation in neurology and eyecare, able to correct strabismus (crossed eyes) and amblyopia (lazy eye), among other conditions. The RemmedVR medically certified home vision therapy system consists of dedicated VR goggles, therapeutic exercises and a therapist control panel.

The sixth startup is Thinkerbell Labs, that has developed Annie, the world’s first digital braille literacy device that helps the visually impaired learn to read, write and type in braille through interactive audio-guided content in vernacular languages. Annie allows for easy monitoring and evaluation of student progress via Helios, a proprietary online dashboard.

The seventh startup is WonderTree, an affordable physiotherapy and educational game provider that uses augmented reality to help children of determination improve their motor, cognitive and educational skills. The games also have a reporting feature through which the progress of the child can be monitored by parents, teachers and medical professionals.

Abu Dhabi is keen on supporting and creating a competitive work environment for tech startups, to ensure the success of their activities. The ADIO further plays an important role in supporting the innovation system in Abu Dhabi. As part of ADIO’s Innovation Program, ECA’s partnership with the office aims at enhancing support to private sector companies seeking to prove their leadership at the regional and global levels

In line with its vision to ensure that every young child is healthy, confident, curious, able to learn and develop strong values in a safe, family-friendly Abu Dhabi, ECA seeks to design a dedicated process for ECD-related policy and legislation development.  The process is defined as a proactive, iterative, participatory, evidence-based one, with strong enforcement and implementation components. In addition, the ECA is responsible for reviewing, adjusting and issuing relevant policies and legislation to fill existing ECD-related gaps, promote high-quality services and achieving strong child outcomes.