UAE University is to work with Google to develop a technology lab that seeks to turn young people's obsession with phones and gadgets into a desire to create their own products and businesses.
The Google Innovation Hub was announced yesterday and is scheduled to open by the end of this year. The centre, to be built on the university's campus, focuses on showing young people how they could produce Android apps, build robots and how to master search engine engine technology.
Students aged between eight and 24 from across Abu Dhabi emirate will be invited to visit the centre, which uses hands-on experiments to pique their interest. Google will train all of the centre's staff.
“The excessive use of mobile devices by our children is clear, but is it the right kind of use? With this centre we want it to become the right kind of use,” said Dr Ali Al Nuaimi, director general of Abu Dhabi Education Council and chancellor of UAE University.
“I want to see students from the innovation hub participating in the conference for exceptional people; I want someone to stand up and say I am participating from Abu Dhabi, we should have a stamp everywhere.
“We are proud to have a platform that enables students to interact with the future technology, not only the existing one, and not only by learning at schools.
“I want to see what every student will do, I want a real investment, when Google seniors visit the region, let them pass by and meet the students."
One of the main focuses will be to teach so-called machine learning, which Google used to develop Google Translate, and its search engine app Go Google. The user simply states what they are looking for and the results appear on the screen, as with Applie's Siri.
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One success to date was Tensor Flow – owned by Google - was used by a Japanese family to develop a cucumber business, said Selim Edde, head of public policy and government relations for Google in the Middle East and North Africa
“In Japan cucumber prices differ based on its size and flexibility, so a young man went on Tensor Flow and created a program to triage the cucumbers; he did it by himself, we did not have to create a programme specialised with cucumbers.”
Machine learning also includes figuring out how to win the Go Chinese chess-like game and other video games.
They would observe the ten thousand top players at a video game; “and we observe how they play, the program plays by itself two million times, so it reaches stages that exceed any other player who could play this game,” he explained.
“We are applying this type of horizontal artificial intelligence to everything.”
“This was created a year and a half ago by Deep Mind, a company owned by Google,” he added.
The hub will also include an App Factory, where students will create mobile apps for Android including coding in virtual reality using Google Cardboard and coding for the web using Chrome.
There will also be a Maker Space section, where students will learn 3D printing, robotics and laser cutting.
Mr Edde demonstrated a picture of how the three sections will look like; all rooms were colourful with a modern free-spirit theme, close to what Google offices generally look like.
“This centre will be the first of its kind in the region, because it will teach young people practical things in a fun and simple way; it will prepare them for the job market.”
While schools in the UAE already teach robotics, he said what is being provided is not enough.
“We already has this teaching programme at Google, and we modified in a simple easy to understand way."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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