Hub
Dubai
Association Centre
GATEWAY TO THE WORLD’S
FASTEST GROWING ECONOMIES
Steen Jacobsen at the DAC
London audience
recently heard an update
on the work of the
Dubai Association
Centre (DAC), a partnership founded in
2014, between the Dubai World
Trade Centre (DWTC), the Dubai
Chamber of Commerce and Dubai
Tourism, designed to target association
business to Dubai.
DAC’s Going Global series workshop
session in Pall Mall was held under the
title, ‘The Power of Innovation:
Associations as Catalysts’.
The DAC’s remit is to establish
non-profit and non-religious professional
associations and trade bodies in the
Emirate of Dubai.
The DAC is a one-stop shop in offices
next to the Dubai World Trade Centre
and is able to help with registration and
licensing, facility management and
organising meetings and events.
DAC in
numbers:
• 60 member
associations have
signed up for
offices to date
• 35% based in
Europe and UK,
41% in the USA
• 18 new
associations in
2018 alone
• DAC is an
organiser, too
– of over 10
events a year
• DAC has five
international
partners
So far 60 associations worldwide have
opened ‘satellite’ offices in DAC’s office
space and securing a Middle East base to
expand within industries across the
region and beyond.
Associations are also able to benefit
from economies of scale, experience in
the association marketplace, flexibility
and adaptability, buying power and
centralised facilities of DAC.
Dubai Business Tourism Assistant
Vice-President, Steen Jacobsen, says
DAC’s main objective is “to grow Dubai
and the UAE as a knowledge hub across
key sectors The meetings business comes
as a side effect (which we obviously are
happy with) but the main objective of
DAC is not to drive meetings business”.
“DAC is a platform for professional
and trade associations, and we have
associations represented from all
sectors,” Jacobsen adds, and says the
primary target associations are those
ISSUE 100
operating within Dubai’s high-priority
sectors such as healthcare, construction,
financial services, technology, tourism,
trade and manufacturing.
So, why should associations be
considering Dubai as a conference
destination? The convention bureau
points to a culturally diverse region with
a young population and a fast developing
hub for knowledge and innovation.
Coupled with world-class infrastructure
and Dubai’s reputation as a place where it
is easy to do business, DAC is well placed
to develop business in what is still, an
under-developed association sector.
The majority of the associations
registered under DAC are involved in
organising meetings, of course. And,
looking ahead, DAC will also organise
the Dubai Association Congress in
December, under the theme: ‘Driving
change: The societal impact of
associations’.
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