Meta and the UAE Cyber Security Council have launched Wearables Studio UAE, a program that will help students, developers and startups build artificial intelligence applications for wearable devices. Startupbootcamp will deliver the program, which the partners describe as the country’s first dedicated initiative combining innovation, education and talent development in this field.
From Ideas to Working Applications
Wearables Studio UAE was unveiled at GISEC Global 2026. The program is aimed at people with ideas for services that could work through wearable devices, including entrepreneurs and technical students. Participants are expected to receive access to technology, training and mentorship as they develop those ideas into applications.
The planned activities move beyond classroom instruction. Participants will be able to join public ideation sessions, workshops led by specialists, technical mentoring and an in-person build sprint. A pitch event and final showcase are planned for GITEX Global 2026.
Meta’s Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta smart glasses will be among the platforms used in the program. That gives participants a specific design challenge: an application intended for glasses has to make sense when someone is moving through the world, rather than sitting in front of a phone or computer screen.
Joelle Awwad, Meta’s director of policy campaigns and programs for Africa, the Middle East and Türkiye, said: “We're excited to bring Wearables Studio UAE to life with the government backing of the UAE Cyber Security Council and the program expertise of Startupbootcamp, building the right ecosystem to turn AI hardware leadership into hands-on skills for the next generation of UAE's innovators. Through our wearable platforms - Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta smart glasses - students, developers and startups will get the tools and mentorship to build experiences that matter for people's everyday lives, with safety and privacy built in from the start.”
Startupbootcamp will manage delivery on the ground, including outreach, participant selection, workshops, mentorship and the final showcase. Those responsibilities place the implementation partner between a broad invitation to innovate and the practical work of helping teams prepare something they can demonstrate.
Security Is Part of the Brief
The Cyber Security Council is the national partner. Its role is to bring cybersecurity expertise to a program in which participants may design applications that use features such as cameras and voice interaction. The council has also publicly confirmed its partnership with Meta and Startupbootcamp.
Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, head of cyber security for the UAE government, said: “The growing use of AI in wearable devices is opening new opportunities for innovation. At the same time, it requires cybersecurity and privacy to be built into these technologies from the outset, rather than added later. Through this initiative, we aim to help students, developers, entrepreneurs, and startups turn their ideas into practical applications within an environment that promotes responsible innovation and user trust. This will contribute to developing a new generation of talent equipped to shape the technologies of the future and use them safely.”
The program is open to ideas across tourism and cultural heritage, healthcare, education, Arabic-language AI companions and smart retail. Those categories offer quite different settings in which to test wearable applications. A visitor navigating a cultural site, for example, would have different needs from a person using an educational tool. The organizers have identified these as areas for applications.
The partnership also connects the initiative to the UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031, which emphasizes AI adoption and the development of future talent. Wearables Studio UAE puts that goal into practice through technical training, mentorship and hands-on work with wearable technology.
The launch comes at a stage when wearable AI is still being explored as a way to interact with digital services. Wearables Studio UAE gives local developers access to devices and technical guidance to test that approach against particular uses.
