Based on a press release sent to Daily Tech Times. Published after automated checks against the release; not read by an editor before publication. Corrections: editor@dailytechtimes.co.uk.
Tathmeer Agri Tech launched its Integrated Agri-Tech Innovation Centre in Sharjah, UAE, on September 16, 2026, working with Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park (SPARK). The company describes itself as the UAE’s first Securities and Commodities Authority-approved and Sharia-compliant AgriTech crowdfunding platform and ecosystem, and says the new centre is MENA’s first of its kind.
The facility is to be built on a dedicated plot within SPARK and will act as a real-world site where agricultural technologies can be demonstrated, tested and validated before wider commercial use. It will bring together controlled-environment agriculture, hydroponics, vertical farming, automation, IoT and AI-enabled monitoring, alongside Tathmeer’s FarmBridge digital platform. The company said the centre will also support applied research and development pilots, farmer training, technology selection and startup development, as well as links between producers, technology providers, investors and markets.
SPARK is providing land, infrastructure, ecosystem access and facilitation for the project. Tathmeer has also partnered with Elevate Farms, a vertical farming technology company with operations in Canada, the United States and Switzerland, to bring additional vertical farming technology into the centre.
Through its FarmBridge Agri-Ecosystem, the company said the model is designed to help farmers answer three fundamental commercial questions covering what to grow, how to grow it and where to sell it, while giving technologies a practical testing ground before further investment.
Comments from the partners
Hussain Al Mahmoudi, chief executive of SPARK, said the collaboration reflects “the type of investment we want to attract to Sharjah”. Layth Dwairi, chief executive and co-founder of Tathmeer Agri Tech, said growers in the region “are short of a way to test technology before committing capital to it”, adding that the centre aims to connect validated technology to financing through its SCA-approved platform and to buyers through FarmBridge.
The centre will also offer certification, field-learning and skills-development programmes for farmers, agronomists, entrepreneurs and technology adopters, and Tathmeer is expected to take part in the Agriculture Innovation Zone at Sharjah Next, Sustainability.