Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, at the AI Retreat 2024 event. Photo: Dubai Media Office
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, at the AI Retreat 2024 event. Photo: Dubai Media Office
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, at the AI Retreat 2024 event. Photo: Dubai Media Office
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, at the AI Retreat 2024 event. Photo: Dubai Media Office

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UAE

Sheikh Hamdan launches AI Roadmap to attract top talent and companies to Dubai

Project aims to utilise the cutting-edge technology to improve quality of life for residents

The National

June 11, 2024

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  • Arabic

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, has launched a roadmap to help attract top companies and talent in artificial intelligence to Dubai.

The AI Roadmap aims to enhance the overall quality of life in the emirate by boosting the adoption of AI, said a statement from the Dubai Government Media Office on Tuesday night.

The project was unveiled at the AI Retreat 2024, an event organised by the Dubai Centre for Artificial Intelligence in collaboration with the National Programme for Artificial Intelligence.

“The launch of the Artificial Intelligence Roadmap marks a vital step to recognise the possible uses of AI in municipal works and to ensure a transformative future that elevates Dubai’s status as a pioneering global city in future innovations,” said Dawoud Al Hajri, director general of Dubai Municipality.

“Furthermore, it supports the goals of the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 focusing on consolidating Dubai’s position among the top three economic cities globally, boosting the productivity of the economy by 50 per cent by innovating and adopting cutting-edge digital solutions and contributing Dh100 billion ($27.23 billion) annually to Dubai’s economy from digital transformation efforts.

“Through this Roadmap, we seek to leverage all technological developments and accelerate the integration of AI in all assignments supervised at the emirates level in alignment with its ongoing efforts to create a robust digital system and offer an innovative system that ensures readiness to meet future needs.

“It seeks to deliver a dynamic environment elevating the emirate’s resilience and contributing to making it more sustainable, pioneering and appealing while providing the highest quality of life for the population,” added Mr Al Hajri.

He said the municipality seeks to identify AI tools to enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness, lower harmful emissions, boost sustainability and reduce dependence on labour.

Mr Al Hajri said the municipality has already identified a number of areas AI can be harnessed – including integrated waste management and sewerage systems, construction, and agriculture, besides public and beach facilities.

The Outsider

Stephen King, Penguin

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Tips for SMEs to cope
  • Adapt your business model. Make changes that are future-proof to the new normal
  • Make sure you have an online presence
  • Open communication with suppliers, especially if they are international. Look for local suppliers to avoid delivery delays
  • Open communication with customers to see how they are coping and be flexible about extending terms, etc
    Courtesy: Craig Moore, founder and CEO of Beehive, which provides term finance and working capital finance to SMEs. Only SMEs that have been trading for two years are eligible for funding from Beehive.
What is Diwali?

The Hindu festival is at once a celebration of the autumn harvest and the triumph of good over evil, as outlined in the Ramayana.

According to the Sanskrit epic, penned by the sage Valmiki, Diwali marks the time that the exiled king Rama – a mortal with superhuman powers – returned home to the city of Ayodhya with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman, after vanquishing the 10-headed demon Ravana and conquering his kingdom of Lanka. The people of Ayodhya are believed to have lit thousands of earthen lamps to illuminate the city and to guide the royal family home.

In its current iteration, Diwali is celebrated with a puja to welcome the goodness of prosperity Lakshmi (an incarnation of Sita) into the home, which is decorated with diyas (oil lamps) or fairy lights and rangoli designs with coloured powder. Fireworks light up the sky in some parts of the word, and sweetmeats are made (or bought) by most households. It is customary to get new clothes stitched, and visit friends and family to exchange gifts and greetings.  

 

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Updated: June 11, 2024, 6:57 PM
DubaiUAEArtificial Intelligence