Homegrown companies head to Dubai to sell Canadian AI to the UAE
A consortium of Canadian artificial intelligence (AI) companies will land in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday as part of a government-led trade mission to hunt for new deals and business opportunities as Canada accelerates its push for new trading partners .
“This mission represents a concrete step toward advancing Canada’s priorities in AI and digital innovation ,” Joël Lightbound, minister of government transformation, public works and procurement, said in a statement on Monday. “By strengthening our collaboration with the UAE, we are turning agreements into tangible results for the Canadian economy while positioning Canada as a global leader in AI and digital infrastructure.”
The Canadian delegation to the UAE, which will be led by Scale AI, the federally backed innovation cluster that invests in companies building and adopting AI, includes 13 companies and six business groups that will participate in events and meetings this week, such as the 2026 World Governments Summit in Dubai that will welcome 35 heads of state.
“The objective of this mission is clear: to translate the agreements signed by our two governments into tangible business outcomes,” Julien Billot, Scale AI’s chief executive, said.
He said the 13 companies were selected from 200 applicants and chosen for their real-world AI applications that can help governments with infrastructure, health, emergency response and public safety management.
Jean Le Bouthillier, founder and chief executive of Quebec City-based Qohash Inc., an AI-driven data security company, said the company is not going to the UAE to test the waters.
“Our platform is mature and ready for export,” he said, adding that he expects to build long-term partnerships with UAE entities this week.
Devashish Paul, founder and chief executive of Ottawa-based Bluwave-AI Inc., which makes AI software to optimize renewable energy systems, said the company’s goal this week is to sign pilot agreements with UAE utility providers and grid and data centre operators.
“We’ve found that there is a lot of interest for Canadian-made AI for energy grids overseas,” he said.
Bluwave-AI already has customers in the UAE as well as India, where its AI solutions are used by Dubai Taxi Corp.’s fleet of electric taxis.
Canada and the UAE are to start negotiations on a comprehensive economic partnership this month, building on an October 2025 memorandum of understanding (MoU) that promised to boost collaboration in AI and emerging tech between the two countries.
Paul said he hopes government officials can hash out an agreement to help reduce red tape for Canadian businesses looking to expand into the UAE “so we can scale up quickly, whether it’s a pilot project or a quick integration project, and jump from there.”
AI and Digital Innovation Minister Evan Solomon has said that one of his key goals for 2026 is deepening partnerships with core allies, including Germany, the United Kingdom and the UAE.
“We’re going to partner with lots of like-minded countries, like we’re doing in the EU and the UAE, to attract investment for Canada,” he said at the time. “This is a Canadian strategy for Canadians by Canadians.”
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