SAP Invests USD 200 Million in UAE and Opens New MENA HQ

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – 14 March 2017 

SAP SE today announced a five-year USD 200 million investment in the UAE, underpinning objectives outlined by the UAE Vision 2021 plan to create economic diversity and jobs for youth.

Senior officials participated in the official ribbon-cutting VIP ceremony and inaugurated the new SAP MENA headquarters in Dubai Internet City.

Ammar Al Malik, Executive Director, Dubai Internet City (DIC), said: “We are delighted to be formally inaugurating the new SAP MENA Headquarters in Dubai Internet City. Throughout the years, DIC has witnessed SAP’s phenomenal growth in Dubai and the region, and the inauguration of their MENA Headquarters is another significant milestone in our shared history. Dubai today is an accelerator of innovation, digitalization, and growth, and DIC is a key catalyst at the heart of the innovation mandate. SAP is one of the most innovative companies in ERP and Cloud solutions, and we look forward to enabling the growth and development of this industry.”

SAP also announced plans to establish its first SAP Cloud Data Center in the UAE in 2017. Through the data center, organizations will be able to benefit from SAP cloud solutions, harnessing the real-time capabilities of the powerful in-memory platform, SAP HANA. The SAP data center will accelerate innovative business models especially for the UAE’s government, banking and finance and healthcare sectors. A recent report from Gartner shows that the MENA public cloud services market is set to roughly double, from about USD 1 billion in 2016 to about USD 2 billion in 2020.

“Our UAE investment plan and our new Middle East and North Africa headquarters in Dubai affirm our commitment to this strategic market, with public-private partnerships fueling digital transformation, co-innovation, talent development and entrepreneurship,” said Luka Mucic, Chief Financial Officer and Member of the Executive Board, SAP SE. The first such investment plan (USD 450 million) had been announced in 2012.

SAP, which was recently announced as a Premier Partner for Expo 2020 Dubai, also launched its first Co-Innovation Lab (COIL) in the UAE, its 15^th lab across the globe, facilitating project-based co-innovation with customers and partners. SAP Co-Innovation Labs, located in high-tech clusters around the globe, provide opportunities to foster innovations with local ecosystems.

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The lab offers a hands-on development environment and a structured and guided global approach for companies to co-innovate with SAP. In the region, the Lab is focused on innovative services for banks and real estate companies to provide an immersive virtual and augmented reality experience for homebuyers. The lab will also act as an enabler and primary access point for SAP’s Internet of Things platform “SAP Leonardo” in the region.

The new SAP headquarters will serve as the hub for SAP’s Training and Development Institute (TDI). The TDI has upskilled thousands of students and young graduates, and successfully implemented programs to sponsor and empower entrepreneurs in the UAE and across the region. TDI is committed to develop local talent, hiring millennials, and supporting women in the workforce. 

The opening event was attended by dozens of executives from the region’s most innovative public and private organizations. At SAP’s first immersive Customer Experience Center in the region, they were given insight into the latest digital innovations and future trends, including SAP Leonardo, the in-memory SAP HANA platform, and the real-time business suite, S/4HANA.

SAP has more than 345,000 customers in 190 countries and generated total revenue of 22 billion Euros for FY2016. Europe, the Middle East, and Africa account for 44 percent of total global revenue.

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About Dubai Internet City
Dubai Internet City (DIC), a member of TECOM Group, is Dubai’s premier business park for information and communications technology industry and the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region. DIC has benefits from free zone status and has attracted more than half of the world’s Fortune 500 companies in line with the government’s vision to grow Dubai into a global innovation hub. DIC was established in 2000 and, in just sixteen years, has seen its business partners grow in number, with over 1600 companies represented today.

About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 345,000 business and public sector customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com . Follow SAP on Twitter: @SAPMENA, @SAPMENANews

Media Contacts
Husain Al Tamimi, SAP +971 56 6811641, [email protected]
Claire McPeak, SAP, +971 4 330 1777, [email protected]
Steve Baron, Wallis Marketing Consultants, +971 4 275 4100, [email protected]

© Press Release 2017