In 2021, Dubai hosted the SME 2021 event to promote initiatives like the Dubai Next crowdfunding platform and RATE plans for SME growth. During this event, an innovative real-time presentation was created to showcase Dubai’s commitment to fostering entrepreneurship. The presentation was designed with an ultra-panoramic screen resolution and provided real-time interactivity. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum was able to control the live data presentation directly from an iPad, offering an engaging experience for the audience.
The challenge was to develop an interactive, real-time presentation that would convey complex data sets while ensuring that the visual storytelling captured attention. To meet this challenge, a set of 80 original icons, adapted to the RATE corporate red triangle shape, was created. The unusual ultra-panoramic screen setup demanded a high level of technical sophistication, achieved through the Ventuz real-time graphics engine.
In 2021, Dubai hosted the SME event to promote the Dubai Next crowdfunding platform and the RATE programme – the Dubai government’s strategic framework for accelerating SME growth across the emirate. The event required a presentation format capable of communicating complex economic data and policy initiatives to a high-profile audience in a way that was both visually compelling and operationally flexible enough to be controlled directly by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum from the stage.
ex1t.one designed and built a real-time interactive presentation for the event, driven by the Ventuz graphics engine, displayed across an ultra-panoramic screen configuration, and operable by His Highness via iPad in real time throughout the session. The presentation combined live data integration with a bespoke visual identity system of 80 custom icons – each designed in direct reference to the RATE corporate red triangle – to create a presentation environment of both technical sophistication and strong visual coherence.
SME/RATE Dubai
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Ultra-Panoramic Screen Resolution: Technical Demands of a Government Stage
The physical setup of the SME Dubai event posed an immediate technical challenge: an ultra-panoramic screen configuration with an unusual aspect ratio that required content designed specifically for its dimensions rather than adapted from standard formats. Presentations designed for conventional widescreen ratios would have appeared distorted or misaligned across a screen of this aspect ratio, undermining the visual authority the event required.
Ventuz was selected as the rendering engine for its ability to handle non-standard output configurations with full real-time capability – the presentation was built natively for the ultra-panoramic resolution rather than scaled or cropped from a standard canvas. Every element of the visual design was composed with the full panoramic field of view in mind: data visualisations that used the extended horizontal space to show comparative information side by side, animated transitions that tracked across the full width of the screen, and typographic layouts calibrated for legibility at the scale and distance of a major government event audience.
The result was a presentation environment that felt designed for its stage rather than deployed onto it – a distinction that is immediately apparent to any audience familiar with high-production government and policy events, and that was consistently noted in the praise the presentation received for its technical innovation.
iPad Control for Sheikh Mohammed: Real-Time Presentation in the Hands of Its Principal
The defining operational requirement of the SME Dubai presentation was that His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum would control the live data presentation directly from an iPad on stage – navigating between data sets, advancing through the narrative, and directing the visual content in real time in front of a live audience.
This requirement is significantly more demanding than it might appear. iPad control of a complex real-time presentation at a major government event must be absolutely reliable – any lag, any failure to register an input, any unexpected behaviour in the visual output would be immediately visible to the entire audience and potentially to His Highness himself. The interaction design of the iPad interface had to be intuitive enough to operate confidently without rehearsal pauses or technical support, whilst the Ventuz back-end had to respond to every input instantly and without error throughout the entire session.
The successful delivery of this control model – with His Highness navigating the presentation directly and the audience experiencing a seamless, high-production visual environment throughout – was among the most technically precise executions in ex1t.one’s portfolio of government and high-protocol events.
80 Custom RATE Icons: Visual Identity Built Into the Data Storytelling
Complex economic data – SME growth statistics, crowdfunding platform metrics, programme targets, comparative figures across sectors and years – presents a consistent visual communication challenge: numbers alone do not create comprehension or engagement at the speed a live presentation demands. Audiences at government events need to grasp the significance of data quickly and retain it across a presentation that may cover dozens of data points.
ex1t.one addressed this by designing a complete set of 80 original icons for the RATE presentation – each adapted to the RATE corporate red triangle identity, ensuring that every icon felt of a piece with the programme’s visual language rather than drawn from a generic library. These icons served as visual anchors for each data category and initiative, giving the audience an immediate graphical reference point for each new piece of information and creating a consistent iconographic language across the full span of the presentation.
The combination of custom iconography, live data integration, and Ventuz-powered real-time animation produced a presentation environment that communicated the ambition and rigour of the RATE programme with the visual authority appropriate to a government initiative presented by its principal.
- Goals:
◦ Present Dubai’s SME growth strategies and initiatives, such as Dubai Next, in a compelling, interactive format.
◦ Deliver real-time data updates in an ultra-panoramic screen setup. - Production:
◦ Developed a real-time presentation using Ventuz, integrating live data updates and interactive elements.
◦ Designed 80 custom icons inspired by the RATE corporate identity for visual storytelling.
◦ Enabled His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to control the presentation via iPad, ensuring a seamless, engaging experience. - Results:
◦ Enhanced audience engagement with visually stunning, dynamic presentations.
◦ Received praise for technical innovation and adaptability to live updates.
Related Government, Stage and Real-Time Data Presentation Projects
Explore more government, stage and real-time data presentation projects from ex1t.one:
- Inditex Global Marketing Platform – Real-time data-driven interactive platform deployed from Arteixo to worldwide
- SEAT Altea Interactive Showroom – Non-linear real-time stage presentation retained throughout the full Altea production run
- LG Multi V Stage Presentation – Pepper’s Ghost product demonstration adopted globally by LG’s Korean headquarters
ex1t.one’s Approach to High-Protocol Government and Live Data Presentations
ex1t.one designs real-time presentation systems for government events, policy launches, and high-protocol occasions where visual quality, operational reliability, and the ability to communicate complex data with clarity are all non-negotiable simultaneously. The SME Dubai RATE project sits at the most demanding end of this work – a live data presentation controlled directly by a head of state, delivered across a non-standard ultra-panoramic screen configuration, at a major government event with no margin for technical error.
Our use of Ventuz as a real-time rendering engine across government and corporate presentation contexts reflects a consistent principle: live events deserve live systems. Pre-rendered video cannot respond to the room, cannot be updated moments before the session begins, and cannot be navigated by the speaker in real time in response to the audience. Real-time rendering gives the presenter primary control over their presentation in a way that fixed media fundamentally cannot, and that difference is felt by everyone in the room.
For further context on real-time graphics and data visualisation for live events, visit the Ventuz Technology resources at ventuz.com.