_Dubai: A new tech city?

With improvements in infrastructure for sustained long-term tech growth, developers and landlords are adapting strategies to respond to the new geography of demand. The creative model of office space – open floor plates, efficient layouts, and high ceilings – will become commonplace in many new developments, with developers adding amenities and outdoor spaces.”

With the Dubai Media City (DMC) and Dubai Internet City (DIC) Free Zones being established in 2001, we have witnessed a cluster effect for technology, advertising, media and information (TAMI) companies that have located there. Although take up per tenant remains small (as regional hubs for Arabic content) we expect to witness growing demand as the millennial’s enter the workforce and drive change across the region. This change will undoubtedly lead to growth in the size of office spaces and the overall demand by the sector compared to traditional businesses.  This will be exacerbated by disruptive technologies within the traditional sectors, including the financial sector. 

The evolution of fledgling start-up tech firms into viable corporate entities will help generate increased demand with the resources to pay higher rents for attractive and fully customised creative office space. This has caused a paradigm shift in the ways investors approach and evaluate real estate opportunities, which will impact the current market stock and rents, which, currently average office rents are c.160 per sq ft/per annum.  

With the emergence of the tech sector as a potential driver of the city’s economy, investment and development of infrastructure is necessary to cement and sustain Dubai’s standing as a regional tech hub. Under the guidance of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, we have seen significant improvements in the digital services and infrastructure of Dubai to become a global SMART city.