The UAE has a vision to become one of the leading nations in AI by 2031 by creating new economic, educational, and social opportunities for citizens, governments and businesses.
This was undoubtedly based on the predictions that over the next five years, the smart cities market will increase from over $400 billion to $1.5 trillion. This would set Dubai on a global pedestal as a nest for innovation and technological advances in fields such as education and healthcare and would provide a steady growth line for the UAE as a whole.
Dubai is more geared up to harness the power of AI than most of its counterparts around the world and there are several reasons why Dubai has been on the forefront. At the outset there is a strong conviction and belief from the head of the state and government that they would use technology to enhance efficiencies, productivities of the organisation and well-being of its citizens and residents.
There are many strong initiatives which have been commissioned at the grass root level. In March 2014, the Dubai Government announced the Smart Dubai initiative to make Dubai a leading smart city. AI has been the trigger and the technology behind this facilitation of Smart Dubai. This would catapult Dubai as a leader in innovation and technological advances.
UAE is one of the few nations in the world to have appointed His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama being appointed as Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence in October 2017, probably the first in the world.
This strong belief of H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates himself to educate and inculcate science and technology at a very young age would lay the foundations to harness the power of AI in all areas of life and development in the city and country at large. He says
“The youth should be equipped with science and knowledge as they are the sole, constant, dominant weapons in this life.”
The UAE government knows its strength is in combining a strong vision with active involvement – investment, legislation and testbeds – for technological innovation. The nation is putting in energies to become a fast adopter of emerging AI technologies across Government, as well as attract top AI talent to experiment with new technologies. Deep investments have been made in several sectors with health, education, transport, communications, public utilities and energy services.
These steps would help Dubai adopt stronger economic gains and enable the nation to garner global leadership in different aspects of AI.
Contributed by : Minosh Salam, Director-SquareOne Technologies
Courtesy : National Program for Artificial Intelligence