2020 Sustainability Institution of the Year Finalist: startAD, NYU Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates

startAD, NYU Abu Dhabi - Sparking startup sustainability - startAD and its environmental entrepreneurial work 

startAD is an entrepreneurship accelerator, anchored at NYU Abu Dhabi and powered by its partner Tamkeen. startAD supports Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s goals of becoming a knowledge-based economy by equipping students, startups, and corporates with the necessary tools to build innovative new products that serve a global need, collaborate across organizations, and develop entrepreneurial capacity.  

At startAD, we have focused on not only working with start-ups and students to develop their skills, but also to broaden their thinking and ambitions to include goals in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Over the course of our existence, we have worked with over twenty start-ups who are committed on providing sustainable solutions to investors. 

Top three learnings: 

1. We found new synergies available across the regional economy for sustainable change. 
2. We discovered different forms of hardware development that benefit the climate. 
3. We found new ways to share with start-ups the benefits of sustainable corporate management.