1776 Dubai Challenge Cup: annual pitch competition hosted by global business incubator 1776 in partnership with the Dubai Foundation
Arabnet Beirut: three day event involving four competitions—Startup Battle, Ideathon, Creative Combat, and Innovation Avenue—as well as conferences on digital transformation, media and advertising, banking innovation, and training for SMEs; February 20-22, 2018
Arabnet Digital Summit: annual conference for digital businesses in the Middle East; Dubai, April 30-May 1, 2018
Arabnet Kuwait: two day event involving two competitions—Startup Battle and Ideathon—as well as forums on adtech, investment & innovation, and digital commerce; October 17-18, 2018
Arabnet Riyadh: three day event involving two competitions—Startup Battle, Ideathon, and Creative Combat—as well as forums on digital transformation, adtech, innovation & investment, and digital commerce; December 11-13, 2018
First Step (Hangawi Yakam) : reality TV show where aspiring entrepreneurs compete for two months while participating in training and development workshops. The winning entrepreneur is given space and seed funding for their project.
Global Entrepreneur Student Awards: competition for undergraduate and graduate students with companies operating for at least six months with at least $500 in generated revenue. Participants first compete in local competition, then national competition, and finally, if selected, to the GSEA Finals. No local competition in Iraq yet, but in UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.
HackaErbil: a two-day hackathon in which participants are required to present new and innovative projects
HackaSuly: weekend-long event that brings the coding community in Sulaimani and Kurdistan together to work in teams and turn their ideas into technological solutions
Hult Prize: annual, year-long competition that challenges college and MBA students to find solutions to global social issues
MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab: consists of two annual competitions, Arab Startup Competition and Innovate for Refugees. In the former, competitors partake in three rounds of judging on one of three tracks—Ideas Track, Startups Track, and Social Entrepreneurship Track—and the winning entrepreneurs are awarded prizes worth more than USD 160K, including access to training, mentorship, coaching, media exposure, and networking opportunities. In the latter, aspiring entrepreneurs compete to solve issues facing refugees and are awarded over USD 15K in cash, as well as mentorship and coaching.
Pitch Bootcamp: two-day career accelerator designed to help you understand your professional options and meet companies
Rwanga Awards: competition that offers awards for youth talent in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (Erbil for 2014,Sulaimani for 2015, Duhok for 2016 and Erbil for 2017) in the fields of entrepreneurship, scientific invention, and art/photography/music
Startup Weekend: Powered by Google for Entrepreneurs, Startup Weekend teaches its participants how to network and build their startups within 54 hours.
Technovation Iridescent: curriculum and pitch competition for young women to start their own businesses