Abu Dhabi forms R&D council; Robot rental service opens in Dubai
Good morning,
Welcome to this week’s edition of Middle East AI News!
The big news this week is yesterday's announcement of Abu Dhabi's new Advanced Technology Research Council or ATRC, to be headed up by Dark Matter founder Faisal Abdulaziz Al Bannai.
With a growing variety of R&D initiatives driven by Adnoc, Dark Matter, Group 42, the Inception Institute of Artificial Intelligence and others, there's certainly an opportunity for the ATRC to both help coordinate R&D activities and pave the way for global tech players to invest in Abu Dhabi.
As the emirate continues to grow its R&D ecosytem, it also increases its chances of creating a sustainable pool of R&D talent. Last year Abu Dhabi Investment Office and SenseTime announced that the AI unicorn would open an EMEA R&D centre in Abu Dhabi employing 600 engineers. No doubt, Abu Dhabi would like to see more tech firms do the same.
Scroll down for more on this and stories from around the region.
Have a great weekend!
/Carrington
R&D
Abu Dhabi establishes Advanced Technology Research Council — www.thenational.ae
#UAE #R&D - UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has issued a law founding The Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC) as an independent authority to accelerate Abu Dhabi's culture of innovation and discovery. With Dark Matter founder Faisal Abdulaziz Al Bannai appointed as its Secretary General, the ATRC will be responsible for setting the technological priorities and driving R&D, reporting to the Abu Dhabi Executive Council. (The National)
Robotics
UAE-firm launches robot rental fleet — gulfnews.com
#UAE coronavirus - Reliable Robotics has launched a robot rental services with four robot models aimed at supporting the protection of the public and health care workers by limiting their direct contact with Covid-19. The company offers robots for fever detection, awareness and a delivery. (Gulf News)
Bahrain traffic drone enforces police rules in multiple languages — live.saudigazette.com.sa
#Bahrain #coronavirus - A drone delivering messages in multiple languages is being used in Bahrain to enforce traffic rules and ensure people cross the road safely, according to the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA). (Saudi Gazette)
Coronavirus
Abu Dhabi uses artificial intelligence to predict, prevent Covid-19 spread — www.khaleejtimes.com
#UAE #coronavirus - The Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha) is leveraging AI, machine learning capabilities and data to predict and plan response against the Covid-19 pandemic. (Khaleej Times)
Saudi Health Council launches online hub for COVID-19 information — www.arabnews.com
#Saudi #coronavirus - The Saudi Health Council’s National Health Information Center has launched a specialized electronic platform to provide comprehensive interactive information about the coronavirus pandemic. Corona Map is an interactive app that monitors the number of infections around the world. It also includes an AI virtual assistant, BashairBot. (Arab News)
Egypt launches automatic testing of coronavirus symptoms in sign language — www.zawya.com
#Egypt #coronavirus - An automated testing service for diagnosing Covid-19 symptoms which uses sign-language for the hearing impaired has been launched by Egypt's Ministry of CIT, technology vendor Avaya and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (Zawya)
Energy
A brave new digital world — www.oilfieldtechnology.com
#Saudi #energy - Saudi Aramco's innovation and technology centre is a 2,500 sqm. complex dedicated to the future of energy with 270 square metres of video calls and an AI Hub. Aramco uses a variety of emerging technologies including AI and robotics. (Oilfield Technology)
Media
BIGO strengthens Middle East presence with Jordan office expansion — www.zawya.com
#Jordan #media - AI-powered video platform BIGO Technology (BIGO) aims to expand its new Amman regional office to 100 employees during the next month. (Zawya)
Why machine learning finds Arabic challenging — www.thenational.ae
#Jordan #UAE #ML - The Arabic's variability and ambiguity in meaning make the language a challenge for machine learning systems. Jordanian media company Al Bawaba recently won a grant from Google to tackle the challenge. (The National)
Drones
Interview: Falcon Eye Drones speaks about strategic alliance with Aerodyne — gulfnews.com
#UAE #drones - Dubai-based Falcon Eye Drones (FEDS) shares details on its deal with Malaysian drone-maker Aerodyne of earlier this month. (Gulf News)