From IP Incentives to R&D Relief: Completing the Innovation Framework

The UAE’s approach to innovation has followed a clear and deliberate path. Initially, the focus was on Intellectual Property (“IP”), with benefits directed toward businesses that genuinely developed and managed certain IP in the UAE. That framework served an important purpose, but it was also narrow in scope. In practice, meaningful incentives were largely available to Qualifying Free Zone Persons and limited forms of IP, leaving many innovative businesses outside the incentive net.