The World Future Energy Summit has seen another year of success, with independent onsite research projecting that buyers attending the event will place orders worth billions of dollars  within the next annual business cycle, offering the perfect business platform as the Middle East’s largest future energy and sustainability event.

Further demonstrating Abu Dhabi’s position at the business crossroads between Europe, Asia and Africa, international attendee numbers grew by 11 percent compared with 2019, while the number of countries represented reached 125, up around 17 percent year-on-year. Attendance during the four days of the World Future Energy Summit is estimated at close to 34,000.

A record of at least 27 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed during the event, which hosted around 840 global brands.

“This is a great result and shows once again that the market for renewable energy, and other sustainable technology, continues to expand,” said Grant Tuchten, Group Event Director, World Future Energy Summit. “Since the event’s first edition in 2008, renewables and sustainability have moved firmly into the centre of economic planning in the UAE, GCC and globally. We are very proud of our contribution to this growth, supporting new business opportunities as we transition towards environmentally sustainable best-practice across the Middle East and beyond. The World Future Energy Summit can look forward to further success in the future.”

As the premier renewables and sustainability business platform in the Middle East, the 2020 edition attracted a strong contingent of GCC exhibitors, including Al Marafiq, Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), and Saudi Aramco from Saudi Arabia, as well as the GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA). This edition also demonstrated the World Future Energy Summit’s increasing importance to markets neighbouring the GCC, such as the sub-continent and Africa, including a very strong 155 percent increase in exhibitors from India.

Start-ups also performed strongly at the World Future Energy Summit, with the event supporting new ideas through the Climate Innovation Exchange – CLIX, which matched entrepreneurs and investors to accelerate growth for innovative business concepts. A total of 50 start-ups exhibited this year, including 41 as part of CLIX.

Hosted by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment at the World Future Energy Summit, the Climate Innovations Exchange (CLIX) 2020 featured 42 innovations, carefully handpicked from a record 1,402 applications received from 128 countries.

Around 62 percent of investors at CLIX 2020 expressed their intention to commit to investment opportunities collectively valued at AED62 million, according to an independent survey conducted by GRS Strategy and Research. This takes the total amount committed by way of investment pledges since the first edition of CLIX in 2018 to AED310 million. The platform has a proven track record of facilitating partnerships between pioneering startups and forward-thinking investors.

Other strategic partners for the 2020 edition included: Abu Dhabi Department of Energy (DoE), as Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week Principal Partner; Abu Dhabi Power Corporation, as Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week Strategic Partner; Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company (ADSDC), as Water Expo & Forum Strategic Partner; Abu Dhabi Waste Management Center, as EcoWASTE Exhibition & Forum Strategic Partner; Mubadala, as Strategic Partner; Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ADCCI), as Business Partner; ExxonMobil, as Energy Expo Partner; Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA), as Efficiency Partner; Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), as Energy Partner; Abu Dhabi Global Markets, as Sustainable Finance Partner; Etihad Airways, as Official Airline Partner.

The next edition of the World Future Energy Summit will be held 18 to 21 January, 2021.