At our 2025 AGM, we had the privilege of hosting a sector-deep dive on two domains that sit at the heart of Dubai’s strategic priorities: Healthcare and Real Estate. In this session, we explored how innovation across these sectors can unlock transformative economic and social outcomes, and what it takes to build the infrastructure to get there.
Moderated by DFDF’s Director of Investment and Ecosystem Development, Mahmoud Ward, the panel featured two ecosystem leaders:
- Scott Rutherford, Senior Advisor to the CEO at Dubai Health
- Dr. Mahmoud Al Burai, Senior Director of Real Estate Policy & Innovation at Dubai Land Department (DLD)
Here’s what we learned from the conversation.
Dubai Health: An Integrated Innovation Engine
Dubai Health is more than a healthcare provider. As an academic health system, it integrates care delivery, education, research, patient data and philanthropy under one governance structure. With 11,000+ employees and over 4 million annual patient interactions, its reach is significant. But what sets it apart is its ability to act seamlessly across these functions, creating a unified platform for innovation.
Scott shared how Dubai Health is working to build the scientific and institutional infrastructure necessary for world-class research and development. From genomics and biobanking to protein engineering and clinical trial capabilities, Dubai Health is laying the groundwork for a full bench-to-bedside innovation pipeline.
Crucially, the organization is building this ecosystem not in isolation, but in partnership with startups, corporates, and investors. A new innovation center is launching soon, with over 20 private-sector collaborations already in the pipeline.
Health Innovation with a Purpose
The innovation strategy at Dubai Health centers around four pillars: care delivery, education, research, and giving. Through this model, the institution aims to:
- Engage clinicians directly in research, ensuring real-world problems guide innovation.
- Attract and co-develop ventures with private sector partners.
- Provide validation and data access through clinical trials and trusted research environments.
- Streamline ethics and approvals, recognizing that time is one of the biggest barriers to innovation in healthcare.
By removing fragmentation, speeding up approvals, and aggregating patient data (anonymized and consented) into a single platform, Dubai Health is building a system that founders and researchers can plug into from day one.
DLD: Building for Quality of Life
The panel discussed how health and real estate are deeply intertwined. As the body that oversees all real estate policies and innovation in Dubai, DLD is anchoring its strategy in the D33 agenda, the 2040 Urban Master Plan, and the city’s ambition to become the best place in the world to live, work, and thrive.
With hundreds of billions of dirhams in real estate transactions last year and over 10,000 new investors entering the market monthly, DLD is playing a critical role in shaping the city’s built environment. But its ambitions go well beyond transactions. DLD is:
- Redesigning the investor journey, especially for non-residents who make up 40% of buyers.
- Embedding innovation across the sector, from policy and regulation to data and proptech.
- Championing sustainable, healthy buildings that enhance well-being, not just aesthetics.
Innovation at DLD: A System, Not a Slogan
In May 2024, DLD launched the Real Estate Evolution Space (REES), its formal innovation strategy. With REES, Dubai aims to become a global leader in proptech. But the vision is holistic: innovation isn’t limited to transactions or platforms. It spans everything from construction tech and energy efficiency to data transparency and tokenization.
Dr. Mahmoud emphasized DLD’s willingness to reimagine regulation in service of innovation. Key initiatives include:
- Real estate tokenization to democratize access to Dubai property markets.
- Energy efficiency tech pilots to reduce service charges (up to 50% of which go to utilities).
- A forthcoming Proptech Hub, backed by policy flexibility, public-private partnerships, and a mandate to support startups with data, regulatory support, and funding.
The Role of DFDF: Aligning Infrastructure with Investment
For us at DFDF, this panel reinforced a core belief: the future we’re building is not one we’re waiting for. It’s one we’re enabling.
Both Dubai Health and DLD are focused on designing the underlying infrastructure that enables scalable innovation scale from Dubai to the world. As the government of Dubai’s Fund of Fund, our role is to:
- Identify and fund the best fund managers across the capital stack within these sectors.
- Build a unified value proposition across funding, regulatory Infrastructure,
- Support the policy infrastructure that makes regulated sectors investable.
- Anchor new platforms (like the Proptech Hub or health innovation centers) that will serve as magnets for talent, capital, and ideas.
- Bridge gaps between research and commercialization — from bench to bedside, or blueprint to skyline.
We’re already working with both sectors to explore dedicated funding vehicles, support accelerator programs, and connect global and regional venture capital with the opportunities these systems are unlocking.
The Takeaway: Build the Garden
One of the most memorable metaphors from the session came from Dr. Mahmoud, who said: “We don’t chase butterflies. We build the garden.”
That philosophy mirrors our approach at DFDF. We don’t just back founders. We help build the conditions where the right founders, ideas, and capital can find each other.
As Dubai builds its future across health and real estate, we’re here to ensure the garden grows — intentionally, sustainably, and with the long game in mind.
