2024-02-14 20:00:02
In the context of the UAE’s continued interest in focusing on achieving further technological progress as one of the most important priorities for building a modern, advanced economy capable of competing in a global economic environment characterized by rapid technological developments, the role of the Advanced Technology Research Council, whose Board of Directors is chaired by His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed, is being strengthened. Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which reflects the UAE leadership’s high-level interest in focusing on developing scientific research and technology to achieve progress and prosperity by promoting knowledge, innovation and scientific research as basic pillars of the sustainable development process.
The Advanced Technology Research Council is interested in focusing on priority sectors of the national economy, such as aviation, space, transportation, environmental sustainability, security and safety, etc., by building and developing national cadres through various paths, including sending students to more than 25 technology universities. Leading the way in the world, facilitating scientific contributions by publishing 1,114 studies, filing 47 patents, and establishing more than 110 global partnerships in the field of research and development.
The Council also aims to launch a series of competitive technology-based initiatives to provide technological solutions in key areas such as water technology, renewable energy, diagnostics, treatments, artificial intelligence, and others. The Council is the body responsible for setting the research strategy in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi within the academic and industrial sectors. It is also responsible for integrating and facilitating investment and financing activities and developing policies and regulations to contribute to achieving a flexible and effective decision-making process.
The UAE’s efforts to adopt research and innovation and develop the information technology sector as major drivers of an advanced economy have led to the country achieving advanced ranks in global indicators related to knowledge, the most important of which is the Global Knowledge Index (an annual index that measures the state of knowledge in the world through main, secondary and secondary measurement indicators in Seven axes: pre-university education, technical education and vocational training, higher education, information and communications technology, research, development and innovation, economy, and enabling environment), where the UAE ranked 26th out of 133 countries in the Global Knowledge Report for 2023, ranking first in the Gulf ( Followed by Qatar, ranked 39th, and in the Arab world (followed by Tunisia, ranked 81st).
Within the main index, the UAE came in advanced ranks globally in some sub-indices related to technology, research and development, as it was first in the index of speed of uploading and downloading data on mobile phones, in the competitiveness of the Internet and telephone sectors, in broadband Internet subscriptions via mobile devices, and in the percentage Internet users. It also ranked third in financing research and development from business companies, and fourth in the growth of innovative companies.
These results confirm the success of the UAE approach in building a strong, diversified and sustainable economy capable of facing global economic challenges in many issues and fields, including climate, environment and sustainable development issues, as the contribution of non-oil sectors to the UAE’s gross domestic product reached regarding 71.3%, and the sector’s contribution Oil production is regarding 28.7% in 2022. At the level of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the contribution of non-oil GDP rose to its highest level during the period (2015-2022) at 52.8%, at a time when the contributions of promising sectors such as the tourism sector to the Emirati output rose to regarding 9% in 2022.
It is worth noting that these Emirati efforts are taking place within a specific path, in accordance with the country’s plans and strategies aimed at building a diversified economy that focuses on sectors that depend on innovation and advanced industries, developing a generation of Emirati inventors and scientists, and supporting and encouraging Emirati partnerships globally. The Council’s role is not limited to the local level, as it has allocated funding worth $200 million with the aim of supporting and accelerating innovation, especially in emerging countries, by covering the costs resulting from research and allocating resources, in a way that facilitates the development of advanced technological solutions and enables the beneficiary countries to keep pace with technological developments. .
*Issued by the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research
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