ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Dubai has taken another step toward launching flying taxis amid growing gridlock on the emirate’s roads.

Key stakeholders in the project – Dubai and federal regulators, U.S. aircraft company Joby Aviation and UK company Skyports Infrastructure – signed an agreement ahead of the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Sunday to get Joby’s aircraft into service by 2026.

A spokesperson for Skyports told The Circuit the four planned takeoff locations – near Dubai International Airport, the Downtown area, Dubai Marina, and Palm Jumeirah – would cost around $10 million each to construct.

Skyports will foot the bill and generate revenue by charging Joby takeoff and landing fees. A typical journey from DXB to Palm Jumeirah is expected to take 10 minutes by air taxi compared with 45 minutes by car.

The Joby Aviation S4 is designed to accommodate four passengers plus a pilot and is clearing regulatory hurdles to be certified for commercial flight.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Aldar Properties is continuing its foray outside the Middle East with a $111 million co-investment with private equity firm The Carlyle Group in logistics and storage assets across Europe.

Aldar will join the Carlyle Europe Realty platform, the investment firm’s pan-European real estate portfolio, as part of the deal.

Abu Dhabi’s largest listed developer, which is 25% owned by Mubadala and 26% owned by International Holding Co., also unveiled this week a $1.4 billion investment plan to develop a range of income-generating assets in Abu Dhabi.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Nerds and culture vultures have more than one reason to make a stop in Abu Dhabi this month as Comic Con gets underway today and the capital is set to host the Middle East premiere of “Dune: Part Two” on Feb. 18. The 12th annual pop culture fest is the largest in the region, with actor Oscar Isaac of “Dune,” Marvel Universe and “Star Wars” fame headlining this year’s event. It’s all in good fun — but movies and gaming are also big emerging businesses in the Gulf. 

“We are proud to have supported an incredibly successful filming franchise once again,” Mohamed Dobay, acting director-general of the UAE’s Creative Media Authority, said today. “Dune” and “Dune: Part Two” are among at least 150 productions that have used Abu Dhabi as a location in recent years. 

In addition to Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, the capital has lured the likes of Disney, Netflix, Paramount and Universal, marketing its diversity of locations — the city, Arabian Sea and the Liwa Desert — its pool of production talent and the incentive of a 30% rebate for production costs. Films that have been shot in Abu Dhabi include movies from the “Mission Impossible,” “Star Wars” and “Fast & Furious” franchises, as well as Bollywood productions.

Major theatrical productions are a part of a wider effort by the UAE and Saudi Arabia into developing entertainment and gaming. The countries have poured billions of dollars into studio investments, developing talent and building up local capabilities to support the creative industries. Saudi Arabia invested $8 billion into gaming in 2022 and the first half of 2023, the Financial Times reported at the time, mainly through purchasing shares in leading global companies. But its war chest remains intact: the kingdom has earmarked $38 billion to become an international gaming center. 

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – The founder of the world’s first semiconductor company to be valued at more than $1 trillion will take the stage on Day 1 of the World Governments Summit in Dubai next week.

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of California-headquartered Nvidia, will be in conversation with Omar Al Olama, the UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, discussing who will shape the future of AI.

The annual summit was started by Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid in 2013 to serve as a global knowledge exchange program for governments.

Asked about the summit’s role against the backdrop of escalating geopolitical tensions in the region, Mohammad Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the World Governments Summit Organization, said that the event focuses on laying out a future roadmap for governments. “We don’t claim to have all the solutions, but we try to get a glimpse of the future,” he said.

Alongside Huang, AI leaders like Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, are also scheduled to attend. Others include Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank; Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; Klaus Schwab, Chairperson of the World Economic Forum; and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization.

Mubadala Investment Co. Managing Director and Group CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak is also on the Day 1 agenda, onstage with Stephen Pagliuca, the founder, Chairman and CEO of Bain Capital. Pagliuca, who is also co-owner of the Boston Celtics, will be alongside Ross Perot Jr., Chairman of The Perot Group.

Closing out the first day will be former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The lightning rod newsman, who found a landing pad in Elon Musk’s X last year after departing his eponymous show, is reportedly raising millions of dollars for his own media company. He will give a talk titled, “What’s next for storytelling.” 

Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion NEOM project, which is trying to reinvent the urban landscape almost from scratch, has placed its U.S. headquarters smack in the middle of New York City.

The office in New York’s Hudson Yards on the Manhattan waterfront will enable NEOM’s managers to connect with Wall Street, drawing investors, industry leaders and candidates for executive posts. NEOM’S The Line, a futuristic city-in-the-making parallel to the Red Sea coast, and its luxury Trojena ski resort in the Tabuk mountains, aim to rewrite rules of engineering and conceptions of what is possible in the desert kingdom.

Princess Reema bint Bandar, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the U.S., formally opened the office on Tuesday, calling NEOM, “an inspiration for ambitious projects around the world, as it represents a unique model for future cities.”

WeWork founder Adam Neumann, who turned the shared office-space market into a global phenomenon only to be squeezed out amid a failed IPO, is trying to buy the firm out of bankruptcy.

Neumann has sought over the past several months to purchase the business through his new real estate company, Flow Global, and to provide bankruptcy financing to keep it operating, The New York Times reported in its Dealbook section. Dan Loeb, the New York investor and founder of Three Point Management, has been working with Neumann on the deal,

The 44-year-old Israeli Navy veteran built WeWork into a sprawling international real estate company once valued at $47 billion before it crumbled in 2019 and he was forced out by the board as CEO. As the company grew, Neumann was backed by Japan’s Softbank and its first Vision fund, which raised billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co.

DAVOS, Switzerland – The enormous amount of energy needed by data centers engaged in artificial intelligence work presents a new opportunity for investors, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Group CEO and Managing Director of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala sovereign wealth fund, said Thursday at the Davos World Economic Forum meeting.

“There is an unbelievable demand story that’s going to be built up over the next years,” Al Mubarak said during a panel discussion on world trade. “I think that’s a very important opportunity.”

He said filling the energy needs for generative AI “can only work effectively in a globalization perspective, with countries working together, corporations and investors like ourselves working together and being efficient.”

DAVOS, Switzerland – Entry into the expanded bloc of BRICS countries will enable the United Arab Emirates to strengthen links with trading partners in the Southern Hemisphere and reap new investment, UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq told a World Economic Forum audience on Thursday in Davos.

“I think that’s something where the UAE can play a role… in the engagement on the global level when it comes to BRICS,” the minister said during a panel discussion. “This engagement brings a lot of investment as well.”

The trading bloc, originally comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, voted last August to invite the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia to join, starting Jan. 1. Saudi Arabia is reportedly still mulling the decision.