The UAE Government Launches Think AI Initiative
5 roundtables to accelerate the adoption of AI across the UAE
His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, highlighted the importance and active role the UAE government is taking to realize the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai towards accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence and its uses in various key strategic sectors in the UAE.
This came during an MOU signing in the presence of H.E Omar Sultan Al Olama and Waseem Khan, MENA’s Advisory Leader at EY and to launch “Think AI”, a series of roundtables, workshops and panel discussions which will see the participation of more than 100 government officials, representatives from the private sector and experts from local and international organizations.
His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence highlighted that global governments realize the importance of deploying artificial intelligence and its positive implications towards revolutionizing government services as well as its effects towards enhancing key strategic sectors that will ultimately reinforce its position on the global map. The UAE government is very much working towards accelerating the pace of AI adoption through strategic partnerships with both the public and private sectors.
In line with the growth of the artificial intelligence industry, with value estimated to reach 300 billion dollars by the year 2026, and an industry growth of 38.8% in the next seven years; his Excellency highlighted that the UAE government aims to be one of the most advanced countries in the adoption and deployment such technology, realizing its positive revolutionary change.
Global Centre for Artificial Intelligence
The roundtable meetings organized by "Think AI" at the UAE Government Accelerator situated at Emirates Towers in Dubai aim to develop comprehensive dialogs and ideas that support the UAE's efforts towards accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence in various key sectors such as Infrastructure, governance and legal legislation, the development of appropriate infrastructure, and the strengthening the countries position as a global hub for artificial intelligence.
New Model of collaboration
Wasim Khan, MENA Advisory Leader, EY, sayid: “EY is very proud to be working with His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, the Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence to accelerate the adoption of AI across the UAE and further benefit the region. A.I is amongst the most transformative technology of our time with rapid developments across machine learning, data mining, and cognitive computing. Harnessing the power of AI will be a game-changer for both governments and businesses alike. The A.I roundtables we will co-host with the Government Accelerators would be the first of its kind in Dubai; with the objective of identifying mechanisms for government, private sector, and tech startups to seamlessly collaborate around the A.I agenda. We will explore these concepts using our leading hedge innovation hub – Wavespace – in order to facilitate the rapid development of differentiating prototypes towards achieving the objectives of the UAE Centennial 2071 Plan. We are excited to be part of this journey.”
Attracting and fostering talents
The first roundtable will focus on developing national talents and attracting talented artificial intelligence experts, to reach new solutions and ideas in collaboration with technology educators, curriculum designers, consumers of AI talents and education pioneers.
Enhance the adoption of artificial intelligence
The second roundtable will discuss the mechanism of infrastructure development and availability that supports the adoption of artificial intelligence in the UAE and provides the tools necessary to benefit from 4IR solutions providers, data architects, AI thought leaders and technology analysts.
Regulation and Governance
The third roundtable highlights how to improve trustability and acceptance of AI, as well as speared awareness of its uses. It also looks into how to regulate and design policies for such technology across vital sectors in collaboration with regulation and policy makers.
Suitable Infrastructure
The fourth roundtable looks into what could a best-in-class AI infrastructure looks like?. It focuses on preparing the appropriate infrastructure for the development of artificial intelligence applications and practices in partnership with start-ups, business incubators and accelerators using the expertise of technology pioneers, end-users, groups and educational institutions.
National Standers
The fifth roundtable discusses the plans to develop and issue UAE national standards for artificial intelligence technology, which defines the most important uses and functions in cooperation with specialists, government, private sector and the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology.
