Building The Future: Paul Dawalibi, CEO Of Ras Al Khaimah's Innovation City, On Shaping The UAE's Next Tech Capital

"Innovation City will be the UAE’s innovation engine—agile, experimental, relentless.”

This is how Paul Dawalibi, CEO of Ras Al Khaimah’s Innovation City, describes his ambition for the UAE-based premium innovation and technology-focused free zone that he was appointed to lead in April this year. And his vision for Innovation City is bold: to have it lead not just the digital economy of the region, but that of the world—all from Ras Al Khaimah.

Having been purpose-built for modern, futuristic industries, Innovation City—which was formerly known as the Ras Al Khaimah Digital Assets Oasis (RAK DAO)—has been positioned as a hub for Web3, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and gaming. And spearheading its mission today is Dawalibi, armed with insights from his personal journey as an entrepreneur, investor, and futurist.

“I am very excited about my role, since it is a great fit with the vision that HH Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah and Member of the UAE Supreme Council, has for the emirate, which is centered on sustainable development, economic diversification, and innovation,” Dawalibi tells Inc. Arabia. “I’ve spent my career at the intersection of technology, gaming, and venture capital, building companies, advising founders, and helping industries embrace disruption rather than fear it. To be appointed CEO of Innovation City feels like the culmination of all of those experiences. Personally, it’s a chance to leave a legacy by shaping not just a company or a startup, but an entire ecosystem. Professionally, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime: to architect a city where innovation is not an afterthought, but the very foundation on which everything is built.”

Dawalibi is bringing more than two decades of experience as a technology entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and globally recognized startup evangelist to his role at Innovation City. As a trusted voice in the innovation space, his insights are sought after by venture funds, family offices, Fortune 500 firms, and public sector leaders alike. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate, who has built companies in New York and Montreal, has also worked with government entities in the UAE to shape policies and initiatives around gaming investment, ecosystem growth, and innovation.

Dawalibi is also known for being the creator and host of CNBC Arabia’s Game Changers, a gaming and entertainment business show with an audience of 50 million in the Middle East, as well as being one of the authors of Metaverse Dream, which luxury publisher Assouline describes as “a visually immersive book exploring digital design, fashion, and architecture in the virtual frontier.” Having thus established himself as one of the most influential voices in the MENA region’s expanding technology and gaming ecosystems, Dawalibi’s passion for emerging technologies places him in an ideal position to drive Ras Al Khaimah’s Innovation City’s mission to build a vibrant, forward-looking digital economy.

Innovation City CEO Paul Dawalibi. Image via Inc. Arabia.

As the fourth largest emirate of the UAE, Ras Al Khaimah boasts of having one of the most diverse economies in the country, with no sector accounting for more than 27 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). Additionally, it has a population that hails from more than 150 countries—the emirate ranked first out of 53 cities on the Expat Essentials Index in the 2024 Expat Insider Report published by InterNations, the largest global expatriate network. “There is so much excitement around Ras Al Khaimah right now, especially with it set to host Wynn Resorts as the first and only casino operator in the UAE when its Al Marjan Island development opens in 2027,” Dawalibi says. “To build on that momentum, it needs to anchor its growth as a ‘startup emirate,’ with high-value companies and high-value jobs that will expand its population base meaningfully.”

Meanwhile, from a livability point of view, Dawalibi points to the emirate’s natural landscape and deep heritage as unique selling points for those seeking a distinctive place to build from. “Ras Al Khaimah is the ideal destination for innovators from around the world to establish their ventures,” he says. “It offers a balanced lifestyle, with seamless access to modern amenities and nearby metropolises like Dubai, all while immersing residents in the emirate’s stunning natural landscapes and rich cultural heritage.”

According to Dawalibi, one of the keys to realizing his vision for Innovation City will be in bringing the right people to Ras Al Khaimah—which extends all the way from his own team working behind the scenes, to the innovators building businesses that will spur the ecosystem forward. “We are assembling a team of the very best—people who understand innovation, people who speak that language,” Dawalibi shares. “We want to support innovation but be innovators ourselves.”

At the same time, Dawalibi reveals to Inc. Arabia that industry pioneers are already eyeing the city as a gateway to the wider region. These first-movers will, according to him, birth the success stories that Innovation City can build on in the future. “Our first flagship projects will reflect our philosophy: bold, global, and future-facing,” Dawalibi says. “We’re already in discussions with pioneers across AI, gaming, and Web3 who want to use Innovation City as their launchpad into the Middle East.”

However, these early projects are just the start—Dawalibi understands that the true test lies in what comes next. “Success in the next 12–24 months won’t just be about the number of companies we attract; it will be about the stories we create,” he points out. “The first unicorns born in Innovation City, the first global products launched from here, the first industries reimagined—those are the milestones that will matter.” According to Dawalibi, realizing this vision in Ras Al Khaimah shall depend—in part at least—on fostering an innovation culture built around a factor that’s rarely associated with serious conversations about technology: fun.

“Fun is not trivial,” Dawalibi declares. “It is the most powerful driver of human behavior.” Here, Dawalibi highlights an industry that has long shown how fun can accelerate the adoption of cutting-edge technologies. “Gaming has always been the frontier of technology adoption,” Dawalibi points out. “Graphics cards that now power AI were first built for games; online economies flourished in virtual worlds long before blockchain. Web3 and digital assets will follow the same path—people will first experience them through entertainment, through play, through fun. At Innovation City, we take this seriously, because we know that what starts as fun becomes infrastructure for the future economy.”

The Innovation City executive team, from left to right: Vipin Vaidyanathan (Chief Operating Officer), Paul Dawalibi (Chief Executive Officer), and Nabil Arnous (Chief Commercial Officer). Image via Inc. Arabia.

It makes sense then that of the many industries that Innovation City is prioritizing for development, gaming is the most obvious one for it to lead in. “AI is clearly the defining technology of our time, but gaming is the Trojan horse,” he says. “Gaming doesn’t just adopt technology; it normalizes it. Blockchain, digital assets, and the metaverse will all go mainstream through gaming. That’s why, from Innovation City, we see gaming and AI as the twin engines of scale—one captures imagination, the other powers transformation. Together, they will redefine what’s possible.”

And indeed, the very industries that Innovation City is pursuing are changing how business is done today, with gaming increasingly acting as a testbed for immersive technology, Web3, and blockchain redefining trust, ownership, and value creation across industries as diverse as finance, healthcare, and supply chains, and robotics and AI addressing real-world challenges in productivity. And it is in attracting and fostering these technologies, stresses Dawalibi, that Innovation City wants to help propel them into the mainstream.

As for why companies operating in those industries should choose Innovation City as their home, Dawalibi points to the emirate’s business-friendly environment as its central selling point. Specifically, he points to factors such as the fact that Ras Al Khaimah allows for 100 percent foreign ownership and profit repatriation, has low operating costs, charges no personal income tax, and boasts one of the world’s lowest corporate tax rates—this is in addition to its World Bank-recognized judicial system.

Dawalibi shares that another cornerstone that is critical to attracting businesses is compliance, which is especially pertinent to the industries it hopes to capitalize on. “We’re doing something no one else is: embedding compliance into the very DNA of the ecosystem, but in a way that feels seamless, almost invisible,” he shares. “It’s compliance powered by AI, designed to empower, not to punish.” This foundation, he stresses, will allow entrepreneurs to focus 100 percent of their time and effort on building and innovating. “Founders shouldn’t have to choose between being innovative and being credible,” Dawalibi adds. “At Innovation City, they get both—the freedom to push boundaries, and the trust that comes from operating in a jurisdiction where credibility is built in.”

Innovation City CEO Paul Dawalibi. Image via Inc. Arabia

In thus building Innovation City, Dawalibi is looking to borrow the best of Silicon Valley’s playbook, while also ensuring that it remains uniquely positioned as a hub that’s always open to new ideas. “Silicon Valley taught the world that culture eats strategy for breakfast,” he says. “Its strength wasn’t just capital or universities—it was mindset. What we want to avoid is its exclusivity, its insularity, its sometimes toxic gatekeeping. Our edge is the UAE’s openness, diversity, and ability to move fast. In Innovation City, we’re building a global Silicon Valley—open by design, inclusive by nature, and unafraid to rethink the rules of how ecosystems are built."

But far from operating in a silo, Dawalibi stresses that Ras Al Khaimah’s Innovation City will, through careful design, represent continuity in the track record that other emirates like Dubai and Abu Dhabi have established when it comes to innovation in the UAE. “Our vision is not to compete, but to complete,” he says. “The UAE is building an innovation superhighway—Dubai and Abu Dhabi are key junctions, and Innovation City is the accelerator lane. We will provide founders with more than just office space: access to capital through partnerships with global investors, talent pipelines through universities and training academies, and physical infrastructure purpose-built for technology companies. Every founder and technology company who comes here will feel that Innovation City was designed for them, because it was.”

Critically, he points out that, compared to more established ecosystems like Dubai or Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah is more nimble and less bureaucratic—making it akin to the very startups that it’s looking to attract. Plus, with only two free zones in the emirate, Ras Al Khaimah will also be able to channel its resources and focus more sharply than its neighbors.

Here, Dawalibi also reveals his intention to create what he calls “a density of intensity around innovation” in the Ras Al Khaimah free zone, which he believes will help differentiate it from similar hubs not just in the UAE, but in the world.

“Innovation rarely happens in isolation—it thrives when brilliant people collide, when ideas are shared over coffee, and when risks are celebrated, not feared,” Dawalibi explains. “By ‘density of intensity,’ I mean designing a place where the most ambitious minds are concentrated in one space, feeding off each other’s energy, urgency, and creativity. Many hubs focus on infrastructure or tax incentives. At Innovation City, we are engineering culture: an environment where innovation feels inevitable, because the ecosystem itself pushes you to go faster, dream bigger, and build bolder.”

For Dawalibi, it is precisely this culture—where ambition, urgency, and creativity collide— that will build innovation into the DNA of Ras Al Khaimah and the UAE at large, while also propelling the nation toward greater influence in shaping the world’s digital future. “Ras Al Khaimah will be the place where the UAE proves that small can be mighty,” Dawalibi declares. “While others build skyscrapers, we are building ecosystems. While others chase scale, we are chasing density.”

Innovation City: In Brief

Based in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, Innovation City—which was formerly known as Ras Al Khaimah Digital Assets Oasis— aims to become a global hub for technology and innovation companies, bringing together entrepreneurs, creators, and visionaries to build the industries of the future.

With an ambitious vision to create a vibrant cluster of technology and an intense concentration of talented innovators and builders, Innovation City will initially focus on five core pillars: Web3 and digital assets, artificial intelligence (AI), gaming and igaming, robotics, and healthtech and digital health. Armed with a forward-looking regulatory framework, cutting-edge infrastructure, and commitment to building density around innovation, Innovation City is shaping the future of technology from the heart of the UAE.

Innovation City is also set to be the world’s first AI-powered free zone, with it designing regulatory frameworks, services, and support systems enhanced by AI to streamline company procedures, enhance growth, and attract forward-looking enterprises. The initiative will also develop prime land in Ras Al Khaimah into cutting-edge infrastructure designed specifically for technology companies, making the Emirate a beacon and testbed for global innovation.

In a statement, Sheikh Mohammed bin Humaid Al Qasimi, Chairman of Innovation City, said, “Ras Al Khaimah has always been a place of ambition and possibility. With the launch of Innovation City, we are laying the foundation for a new economic future—one built on technology, entrepreneurship, and global leadership in innovation. This is not just about attracting companies—it is about shaping industries and putting Ras Al Khaimah on the map as a capital of innovation for decades to come.”

Paul Dawalibi, CEO of Innovation City, added, “Innovation City dovetails perfectly with the great vision of HH Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, UAE Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, for an Emirate centered on sustainable development, economic diversification, and innovation. With Innovation City, we are not just building another free zone—we are building the future. Our goal is to attract the brightest minds and the most ambitious companies to create an ecosystem where innovation thrives and scale is inevitable. By combining forward-thinking regulation, AI-powered infrastructure, and a community of global pioneers, Innovation City will become the launchpad for the next generation of world-changing companies.”

This article first appeared in the September 2025 issue of Inc. Arabia. To read the full issue online, click here.