260k students join Saudi AI olympiad; KACST launches semiconductor incubator
Middle East AI News weekly digest...
Good morning!
Welcome to this week’s Middle East AI News!
A crazy week with too much news to include in one newsletter! And, of course, the final week of COP28 meetings in Dubai. Many stories to share this week, but in the interests of sending this to you soonest, I’ll skip my usual introduction and leave you to scroll down to discover yourself.
Later today, I’ll be hosting Middle East AI News LIVE - THURSDAY DEEP DIVE on LinkedIn at 12 noon KSA | 1pm UAE time | 9am GMT!
I will be talking to Magdalena Konig, General Counsel at AIQ, a joint venture of ADNOC Group and G42, and we’ll be discussing the new EU rules governing the use of artificial intelligence and what they mean for Europe and the world.
Click here to attend today’s THURSDAY DEEP DIVE!
Thanks for reading!
/Carrington
Education
260,000 students take part in Saudi AI olympiad
#Saudi #ATHKA - 260,000 students, from over 10,000 high schools and middle schools in Saudi Arabia, have signed up for ATHKA, Saudi Arabia’s National Olympiad for Programming and Artificial Intelligence. Launched in October, the olympiad is organised by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), the Ministry of Education, and Mawhiba (the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity). (SPA)
Saudi Arabia ranks first in global AI competition
#Saudi #WAICY - More than 18,000 students from 40 countries participated in the World Artificial Intelligence Competition for Youth (WAICY) event in Riyadh, organised by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) in collaboration with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Saudi Arabia won the most medals in the global competition. (Arab News)
Egypt’s MCIT launches Digital Pioneers
#Egypt #training - The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has launched the Digital Egypt Pioneers Initiative (DEPI). DEPI helps students and graduates enhance their proficiency in cutting-edge technologies, in an effort to increase national skills in digital transformation. (MCIT)
Startups
KACST Ignition Incubator to drive Semiconductor innovation
#Saudi #semiconductor - King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) this week unveiled Ignition - an venture incubator programme aimed at local and international entrepreneurs in the semiconductor industry. The incubator's 52-week programme provides training and guidance from industry experts. (SPA)
LLMs
LLM360 open source model framework launched
#UAE #US #R&D - Californian AI supercomputer developer Cerebras Systems, generative AI company Petuum, and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) have launched a new framework for creating open-source large language models. Called LLM360, the framework allows developers to create LLMs easier, faster and cheaper. (Middle East AI News)
COP28
AI Innovation Grand Challenge
#UAE #COP28 - The UN Climate Change Technology Executive Committee, together with Enterprise Neurosystem, an open-source AI community, has launched the AI Innovation Grand Challenge to identify new AI solutions for climate action in developing countries. (United Nations)
WWT launches climate entrepreneurship platform
#UAE #COP28 - Missouri-headquartered World Wide Technology and its partners, UK publishing group Pearson and UAE startup Open Innovation AI, have launched an AI for Good platform at COP28 in Dubai. The three companies will develop an online education programme. helping one million climate entrepreneurs to harness the power of AI, to solve global climate change problems. (CXO Insight)
MBZUAI and Silal to create Centre of Excellence
#UAE #COP28 - Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), and Silal, an agri-food company based in Abu Dhabi, are to create a Centre of Excellence to bring AI innovation to agriculture and food production. The announcement was made during COP28 in Dubai. (Emirates News Agency)
National AI strategy
Jordanian government to improve AI readiness
#Jordan #digitaltransformation - Jordan’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship has published a report recommending key steps to improve Jordan's readiness to adopt artificial intelligence. The recommendations follow an assessment of government departments in cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, under the Ministry’s AI strategy implementation plan. (PETRA)
Digital Twins
Naver signs deal with iot squared to develop digital twins
#Saudi #SouthKorea #digitaltwins - South Korean Internet giant Naver and Riyadh-based iot squared signed agreement to jointly build a digital twin platform in Saudi Arabia, according to Korean media. The memorandum of understanding follows a $100 million digital twin project awarded to Naver last month. (KED)
Corporate moves
Open Innovation AI opens European HQ
#UAE #export - New Abu Dhabi-based AI company Open Innovation AI has announced its European headquarters in Luxembourg. The company hopes to use its new H.Q. to bring its cutting-edge AI innovations to Europe. (LinkedIn)
Electric Vehicles
ADIO partners with Gridserve for EV charging network
#UAE #charging - The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) signed an agreement bringing UK-based Gridserve, together with Abu Dhabi's new Smart and Autonomous Vehicles Industry cluster (SAVI). Gridserve, focuses on developing and operating customer-centric EV charging networks, powered by solar energy. (The National)
Sharjah launches EV conversion company
#UAE #EVs - BEEAH Group, Peec Mobility and the Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park (SRTIP) have launched a ground-breaking partnership convert petrol-fueled cars, buses and waste collection vehicles to electric vehicles. (Zawya)
R&D
Moroccan university researches computer vision for drones
#Morocco #defence - The AI Movement Centre of the Mohammed VI University of Technical Sciences in Ben Guerir is researching computer vision techniques that can be used for military air and ground surveillance. (MSN)
Aviation
Etihad Airways uses AI to enhance safety management systems
#UAE #aviationsafety - Etihad Airways has become one of the first airlines to use AI to enhance safety management systems, refining its day-to-day operations and advancing its Safety Management System (SMS). The airline signed a collaboration agreement with Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) earlier this year. (Zawya)
AI Diplomacy
SDAIA attends New York UN AI meeting
#Saudi #USA #AIpolicy - A delegation from the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), attended at meeting of the the United Nations High-level Advisory Body on AI in New York on Friday, led by Dr. Latifa bint Mohammed Al-Abdulkarim, the Kingdom's representative on the new advisory body. (SPA)