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Space is a complex and multi-domains business that will more and more play a key role in the countries’
autonomy, sovereignty, and economic sustainability strategies in the long-term. Before reserving a few
legacy global players, the tightening ties with defense applications combined with the perspectives of
new and unlimited sources of energy through Space exploration motivated many new countries to
invest and develop their capacity to address the market.
Between them, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a young, dynamic, and economically powerful country
in the Middle East, has decided to make the Space business one of its top priorities for the next decades.
Thanks to a growing domestic market, export ambitions, high living conditions, and an attractive fiscal
policy, the UAE has the objective and the potential to attract foreign investors, talents, and companies
interested in localizing a part of their activities in the country. This strategy is intended to accelerate the
country’s ramp-up with activities done locally and knowledge transferred to UAE citizens.
If global Space multinationals are already developing their footprint in the country, the momentum
remains at an early stage for foreign SMEs and start-ups that can still be part of the story. For the UAE,
major gaps still exist today to reach the objective of autonomy in the domain, offering business
opportunities to start-ups and SMEs interested in localizing in the Middle East. This work intends to
identify the gaps and to provide a guide to localization based on an analysis of the global space business
trends, of the UAE space market and of the country itself.
