Khaleej Times, Innovation City sign one-year KT Talks partnership

Introduction

Innovation City and Khaleej Times have signed a one-year KT Talks partnership, marking the start of a collaboration focused on producing high-impact, credible branded content and amplifying conversations around innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship.
The agreement was signed by Charles Yardley, Chief Executive Officer of Khaleej Times, and Paul Dawalibi, Chief Executive Officer of Innovation City, formalising the partnership between the two organisations. The collaboration aims to develop thought-leadership-driven storytelling that highlights emerging ideas, businesses, and trends shaping the region’s innovation ecosystem.

KT Talks is Khaleej Times’ branded-content publishing platform that gives partner organisations unlimited rights to create, curate, and distribute thought-leadership content using the same professional tools employed by KT editors and contributors. Content published on the platform is integrated across khaleejtimes.com, ensuring discoverability, transparency, and alignment with newsroom standards.
Innovation City is Ras Al Khaimah’s dedicated technology and innovation free zone, supporting the emirate’s transition toward a knowledge-based economy. It hosts startups, scale-ups, and global companies operating across high-growth sectors such as artificial intelligence, Web3 and digital assets, gaming and iGaming, robotics, and digital health. Through streamlined licensing, regulatory clarity, and access to talent and networks, the free zone plays a key role in attracting foreign investment and driving Ras Al Khaimah’s long-term economic diversification.
Paul Dawalibi said the one-year KT Talks partnership is focused on building purposeful visibility around the emirate’s growing innovation ecosystem. He explained that the collaboration will provide a platform to spotlight founders, companies, and ideas emerging from Innovation City, while shaping a broader narrative around the future of technology and entrepreneurship in the region.
“We’re not just building infrastructure, we’re building a movement,” Dawalibi said, adding that the goal is to position Innovation City as a consistent reference point for innovation in the Middle East.
He noted that the partnership is aimed at reaching founders, technologists, investors, and ambitious talent in the UAE, as well as global audiences essential to Innovation City’s growth. Through KT Talks, the free zone plans to prioritise thought leadership across sectors, including artificial intelligence, gaming, Web3 and digital assets, advanced software, and applied research, while also exploring the human stories behind innovation. Dawalibi said the collaboration will help amplify Ras Al Khaimah’s emergence as a serious technology hub by projecting its innovation narrative to a global audience.
Charles Yardley said the partnership with Innovation City is significant, as it marks the launch of KT Talks’ first collaboration, reflecting growing demand in the region for credible, thought-leadership-led branded content.
“Innovation City being our first partner demonstrates the appetite for innovative storytelling while supporting our belief in the need for a qualitative branded-content experience,” Yardley said.
He explained that KT Talks allows brands to share expertise directly with Khaleej Times readers using the same publishing tools as the newsroom, ensuring stories are searchable, discoverable, and integrated naturally across the website.
Companies that join the KT Talks programme receive a dedicated profile presence on khaleejtimes.com, where their thought-leadership articles are hosted, promoted, and distributed alongside regular newsroom content. Organisations also benefit from Khaleej Times’ strong search rankings, organic placements across the website, and its large social media communities, ensuring partner stories are actively amplified to relevant audiences.
Across the platform, branded articles are supported by structured ledes, SEO-optimised headlines, topic targeting, and expert editorial consultation. This approach enables a more natural and engaging form of storytelling, allowing organisations to communicate insights, announcements, and innovations directly to a trusted UAE-wide readership.

Written By Azza Al Ali .

This article was originally published on Khaleej Times .
You can find the original version here.