'Make it in the Emirates' opens Monday with record 120,000 visitors expected

The UAE’s flagship industrial forum opens on Monday in Abu Dhabi with 120,000 visitors expected over four days and a host of new features designed to help businesses tap into one of the world’s most dynamic industrial development stories.

The fifth and largest edition of Make it in the Emirates, taking place under the theme "Advanced Industry. Emerging Stronger", brings together approximately 1,200 exhibitors across 88,000 square metres at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi, spanning 12 priority industries including advanced manufacturing, aerospace and defence, pharmaceuticals, energy, mobility, and sustainable materials.

The scale of this year’s event reinforces the UAE’s long‑term industrial direction and commitment to an economy built to keep building. It comes on the heels of industrial GDP rising by 70 per cent from 2021 and exports more than doubling to AED262 billion.

Major deals will be announced during the week between government, national enterprises, global corporations, and local businesses.

The Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) will unveil a series of initiatives to bolster the UAE’s industrial resilience and support companies through today’s volatile environment. These include the next generation of the In-Country Value (ICV) Program, which has redirected more than AED473 billion into the national economy, supporting local jobs and strengthening supply chains.

This year’s edition introduces four dedicated experiential hubs - one of the most significant expansion of the forum’s format since its launch - reflecting a push to move beyond deal-making and into hands-on industrial capability building.

Laid out like lobes of the human brain, the Intelligence Hub is a 1,400-square-metre technology showcase positioned along VIP circulation routes and designed for what organizers describe as “real industrial decisions”. The hub features AI, robotics, drones, electric vehicles, batteries, industrial cybersecurity, and smart manufacturing technologies, structured across three showcase categories: locally developed technologies, international innovations, and UAE-global collaborations.

With SMEs, start-ups, and entrepreneurs accounting for 61 per cent of exhibitors this year, the Industry NextGen Hub supports businesses with a direct pipeline into national procurement. The hub features pitch competitions, investor matchmaking, business-to-business meetings with anchor buyers, and workshops on accessing national financing programmes and integrating into supply chains.

The Quality Hub focuses on the certification and accreditation frameworks that allow UAE-manufactured products to compete in international markets, offering practical guidance on standards compliance.

The House of Industry, billed as the UAE's first immersive industrial heritage exhibition, traces the country's evolution from early trade through to advanced manufacturing via film, timelines, and interactive exhibits. The debut of a heritage experience at Make it in the Emirates places the UAE’s industrial story at the heart of national identity.

Make it in the Emirates 2026 is hosted by MoIAT in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), ADNOC, and L’IMAD, and organised by ADNEC Group. Created to advance the UAE’s industrial strategy, the platform operates as a national mechanism for turning ambition into action by convening industrial priorities, capabilities, and opportunities into one place.