Dubai has announced the Create AI Agents Championship, a relaunch of the Create Apps Championship that shifts focus from app development to building autonomous AI-agent systems. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the UAE, and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, made the announcement at the third-edition awards ceremony of the outgoing competition, held at Emirates Towers Boulevard.
“Advancing Dubai’s global vision of transforming ideas into pioneering projects that benefit humanity, we announce today the launch of the Create AI Agents Championship, which represents a new vision for the challenge. Through this initiative, we will move into a new phase of harnessing these technologies, with the aim of making Dubai the first city to lead innovation in this field. This will contribute to shaping future approaches to service delivery, making services more efficient, faster, easier, and more closely centred on people,” Sheikh Hamdan said in a statement.
The championship is run under the Create Apps in Dubai initiative, led by the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy. Across three editions, the initiative drew 15,564 applications from 153 countries, supported the development of 1,700 prototypes, and helped bring more than 140 applications to market. The third edition alone received 9,754 entries.
The new championship is structured around four categories: Best Societal AI Agent, Best Personal AI Agent, Best Business AI Agent, and Best Youth AI Agent, which is open to participants under 21. Each category winner receives a grant of AED 550,000. One of the four winners will additionally receive the AI Agent of the Year title and AED 1 million. The total prize pool exceeds AED 2.5 million.
Eligibility is broad by design. Individuals and teams from technical and non-technical backgrounds may enter, with no minimum age requirement. Entries can range from an idea to an early-stage MVP. Existing businesses may submit a new AI-agent solution, though fully commercialised products are not eligible.
Rather than purely rewarding technical execution, the competition asks participants to identify real-world problems, design AI agents to address them, test impact, and map a path to scalable and sustainable commercial models.
A training and support programme runs alongside the competition. Three introductory workshops on Agentic AI will follow the launch. In November, a Digital Academy opens with four advanced training courses, four practical workshops, and mentorship sessions. Registration closes in December 2026, at which point participants must submit an AI-agent prototype, pitch deck, and demo video.
At the same event, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum honoured winners of the outgoing Create Apps Championship. The Best Youth-made App went to Ettan Ehsan, a gamified learning platform for school subjects.
The Most Impactful App was RUSH, a group travel marketplace. The Most Innovative App was LiaPay, an AI-powered financial wellness assistant. The Longevity App of the Year and the title of Dubai’s App of the Year both went to POP by Kwelio, a medication-adherence app using behavioural science, gamification, and predictive analytics.
Finalists and semi-finalists of the Create Apps Championship will receive direct entry to Oraseya Capital’s Launchpad, a six-month programme supporting early-stage startups before they seek investment. Oraseya Capital is the venture capital arm of Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority, backing startups from pre-Seed to Series B.
