Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has announced SWS Board Technology as the winner of the Dubai-it Award in the economy-focused projects category. The annual award recognises individuals, projects, companies and institutions that embody what is described as the "Dubai-it" approach — a philosophy of action inspired by Dubai's own development journey, built around innovation and tangible progress.
SWS Board Technology, which grew out of Dubai, now produces roughly half of the world's kiteboards and wakeboards, along with a third of global snowboard output. The company manufactures more than 450,000 boards annually and has sold over 6 million units worldwide to date. Its boards have featured at the Winter Olympic Games and world championship events, and the company has also drawn attention for advancing sustainability practices within sporting-goods manufacturing.
The announcement highlighted the achievement of entrepreneur Rainier Nouhra, the figure behind the company, who built one of the world's largest board-manufacturing businesses from a Dubai base. Organisers framed the award as proof that Dubai's ambitions extend well beyond finance and tourism, positioning the emirate as a genuine base for industrial and technology-driven businesses operating at global scale.
The Dubai-it Award is held annually with the stated goal of inspiring future generations by showcasing real, measurable success stories from within the UAE's broader economy — stories meant to demonstrate how ideas rooted locally in Dubai can scale into genuinely global competitive businesses, reinforcing the emirate's continued push to diversify its economic identity well beyond its traditional pillars of trade, tourism and real estate.