GITEX Global 2023

In October 2023, GITEX Global, the world's largest tech and startup show, opened its doors once again in Dubai, gathering visionaries, innovators, and enterprises from across the globe. Though primarily known as a trade fair and exhibition, this year’s edition took on a significantly strategic dimension for EFEVRE TECH, as the company identified the event as a key accelerator for the development of its cutting-edge solutions in healthcare innovation.

While the AMGEL device remained central to many conversations, it was the early-stage introduction of the VITALE software that marked a turning point for EFEVRE TECH’s participation. Dr. Dimitris Kyriakou, Co-Founder and CEO, took the opportunity to present VITALE to a targeted scientific and technological audience—showcasing its vision and potential as a transformative platform for life-science laboratories.

VITALE: A Vision Unveiled at the Right Place, Right Time

Even though VITALE is still in the initial phase of development during GITEX Global 2023, the software was presented as a holistic, AI-powered digital ecosystem designed to enhance the daily workflows of modern research laboratories. Dr. Kyriakou highlighted how the platform’s intelligent architecture is set to address reproducibility, automation, and efficiency—core issues in today’s scientific environments.

The VITALE software was introduced to the new audience focusing on six key features, each playing a role in streamlining and enhancing the laboratory experience:

Status: A centralized interface offering real-time overviews of ongoing protocol experiments, AMGEL device status, and pending tasks, which are designed to empower data-driven decisions and laboratory management.
Protocol Designer: A flexible tool for life-science researchers to build custom experimental workflows with precision and reproducibility in mind, allowing them to choose step timeline, step parameters, labware and liquid selection.
Protocol Library: A comprehensive repository of validated and shareable experimental protocols to promote standardization and knowledge transfer across laboratories. A filtering and sorting system offers user-friendliness and ease of experience.
Scheduling Calendar: An integrated scheduling calendar to organize protocol experiments, reserve the AMGEL device in the laboratory, and avoid protocol run overlaps and missed runs.
Personal Labbook: A digital laboratory notebook enabling seamless automated documentation, traceability, and collaboration. The Personal Labbook aims to battle reproducibility crisis by eliminating selective documentation.
AI Insights: An intelligent Artificial Intelligence assistant offering predictive analytics, anomaly detection, and experiment optimization suggestions. This serves as a tool to ultimately enhancing research accuracy, efficiency, and reproducibility.

Though in its infancy, the VITALE concept generated significant interest among attendees, many of whom saw immediate relevance in their own institutional or industry-based workflows.

Strategic Meetings That Shaped VITALE’s Development

GITEX Global wasn’t just about showcasing—it was about building strategic alliances. EFEVRE TECH maximized its presence by engaging with potential collaborators both before and during the event through pre-arranged meetings on the official online platform.

Dubai Science Park (dsp.ae): The team pre-arranged a meeting with Dubai Science Park at their premises and gained insights into the cutting-edge research and innovation ecosystems. This interaction enabled the team to explore potential collaborative projects and leverage the advanced technological infrastructure and expertise available at Dubai Science Park. Such collaborations are crucial for the development of the VITALE software, as they provide access to state-of-the-art facilities and research capabilities that can enhance the proposed software's development, testing, and validation processes, by becoming an early adopter and taking part in the testing phase. These insights helped shape VITALE’s alignment with real-world laboratory environments and emphasized the value of cloud-integrated design.
Dubai Internet City Innovation & Technology Hub (dic.ae): Through interaction with this innovation cluster, the team gained exposure to startup support systems and digital transformation strategies. During this meeting, EFEVRE TECH could tap into a network of innovators and entrepreneurs, gaining insights into best practices and potential partnerships that could streamline VITALE's technological development. Additionally, engaging with the Technology Innovation Institute (tii.ae) provided the team an opportunity to discuss advanced technological solutions and research methodologies related to both AMGEL and VITALE. This meeting opened possibilities for joint research initiatives, leveraging the institute’s expertise in areas like artificial intelligence, data analytics, and advanced materials, which are essential for the enhancement of the VITALE software. VITALE’s UI/UX and deployment model were positively influenced by this exchange.
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (UAE): Conversations about academic collaboration opened potential pathways for pilot testing programs and long-term scientific integration, particularly around VITALE’s Protocol Library and Labbook features were discussed.
G42 (g42.ai): Known for AI and cloud innovation, G42’s perspective on architecture and scalability contributed to early considerations around VITALE’s data infrastructure and AI pipeline. G42’s expertise in AI and cloud computing could provide valuable technological support, enhancing the software’s functionality and efficiency.

Results and Reflections: Scientific Participation with Purpose

GITEX Global 2023 proved to be a pivotal milestone for the VITALE project. Beyond visibility, EFEVRE TECH’s participation resulted in:

Enhanced Development Direction: Insights from innovation leaders helped sharpen the roadmap for VITALE’s core modules.
Validation of Core Features: The functionality resonated with researchers and technologists, reinforcing VITALE's relevance.
Collaborative Momentum: Relationships built at GITEX laid the foundation for future pilot deployments, joint R&D, and feedback loops essential to user-driven design.

As Dr. Kyriakou stated during one of his meetings:

"VITALE isn’t just a digital software tool—combined with AMGEL, VITALE is a next-generation research partner that blends scientific rigor with the power of intelligent automation"

Looking Ahead: VITALE's Role in the Global Market of Research

With development now actively underway, VITALE is positioned to become a key enabler of digital transformation in the Life-Science Research sector. The inspiration and alliances cultivated at GITEX Global 2023 continue to guide its evolution, ensuring that the platform is not only functional—but visionary.

The Project with the proposal number ENTERPRISES/0223/Sub-Call1/105 and project acronym VITALE is funded by the European Union Recovery and Resilience Facility of the NextGenerationEU instrument, through the Ίδρυμα Έρευνας και Καινοτομίας/Research and Innovation Foundation.