Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, center, poses with Abdulaziz Aljaziri, right, vice executive officer of the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), and Lee Hae-woo, a chief of the Economic Policy Office at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, after Seoul and Dubai signed a business agreement at the DFF office in the United Arab Emirates, Wednesday. Yonhap

Seoul and Dubai have formed a partnership to promote exchanges of startups between the two cities. This initiative involves developing various exchange programs and providing a testbed for the new technologies of startups.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Wednesday, the city government and the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) signed a business agreement. The DFF is an institute established by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, to make the country one of the world's best cities for the future. The foundation is committed to designing and implementing future projects across multiple sectors.

The city government has promised to excavate exchange programs for the mutual advancement of both cities' startups. It will also actively participate in the DFF's programs such as the Dubai Future Forum.

In return, the foundation has promised to support Seoul's startups through its startup fostering program. It will provide a place for technological demonstration using the foundation's facilities to assess whether innovative technologies and services owned by startups in Seoul have marketability.

The city government expressed hopes that startups and high-tech industries in Seoul such as AI, bio and fintech will grow with the support of the DFF's investment and fostering programs. It also expects startups in Seoul can advance into the Middle East market and expand into a larger overseas market as well.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, left, looks around the Dubai Museum of the Future with Lath Carlson, an executive director of the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), in the United Arab Emirates, Wednesday. Yonhap

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited the Dubai Museum of the Future after signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore the exhibition under the theme of the future life of mankind, such as climate change, future ecosystems, health and virtual space travel in 2071.

Oh also visited Dubai Future Labs, an R&D facility in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence operated by the DFF, to examine Seoul's policies such as fostering high-tech industries and supporting the growth of innovative ecosystems.

The city government also finalized a business agreement with the Road and Transport Authority of Dubai, focusing on cooperating in the automatic driving and urban air mobility (UAM) sectors.

The two institutions have pledged to cooperate by exchanging technology and personnel related to autonomous driving and UAM and conducting joint research to revitalize future mobility through this business agreement.

In particular, the city government and Dubai's transport authority plan to showcase Dubai's innovative future mobility technology at Smart Life Week, a tech trade show focused on showing themed exhibitions based on new technologies, scheduled to run in Seoul in October this year.

Notably, Dubai is actively investing in future mobility, announcing a vision to have self-driving vehicles comprise 25 percent of its total traffic volume by 2030. Additionally, with the aim of commercializing UAM by 2026, Dubai plans to install four "vertiports," launch pads for UAM, at Dubai International Airport and the city center.

The city government has expected this business agreement to serve as a stepping stone for active cooperation and exchange in personnel and technology related to major future mobility systems.