ATRC plans to launch three new tech ventures by year end
ATRC plans to launch three new tech ventures by year end
Ventures to commercialise research in data security, smart mobility and robotics
#UAE #ATRC - The Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC) plans to form three new high profile tech ventures by the end of 2024. The plans were reviewed this week by His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, as he chaired a meeting of the ATRC's board of directors.
The council's commercialisation arm, VentureOne, is preparing to launch a venture to 'transform data security in the quantum era', a smart autonomous mobility venture, and an Agritech venture with robotic technologies. Developed in line with the emirate's economic priorities, the new ventures will represent another big step in translating pioneering research into products and services in the UAE.
Here are some key details from the ATRC board’s media statement:
His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, chaired a meeting of the Advanced Technology Research Council’s board of directors.
His Highness reviewed the ATRC’s plans to launch three new ventures, in addition to other plans and achievements of the council. The three ventures are focused on transforming data security in the quantum era, smart autonomous mobility, and Agritech with robotic technologies.
Data security venture: focus will include Quantum-secure file, text and email encryption/decryption; Quantum-secure VPN encryption; IAM (identify and access management suite).
Smart autonomous mobility: focus will include automated fleet operations software stack and hardware integration; services to convert fleets of conventional vehicles into autonomous vehicles.
Agritech robotics: high capacity drone seeding for growth; drone mapping for mangrove forest seeding; monitoring the health of mangrove ecosystems via remote sensing.
The council also reviewed the ATRC’s progress toward shaping an innovative R&D ecosystem, the work of the council’s applied research pillar Technology Innovation Institute (TII), and the work of the council’s program management arm ASPIRE.
It was also noted at the board meeting that TII’s latest Falcon large language model (LLM) had been downloaded 85,000 times since its launch in May, with a total of more than 45 million downloads across all Falcon LLM models.
Other ATRC board members in attendance were H.E. Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology; H.E. Dr. Ahmed Mubarak Al Mazrouei, Chairman of the President’s Office for Strategic Affairs within the Presidential Court; H.E. Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi, Minister of Investment; H.E. Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority; H.E. Mansoor Ibrahim Al Mansoori, Chairman of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi; H.E. Ahmed Tamim Al Kuttab, Chairman of the Department of Government Enablement - Abu Dhabi; and H.E. Faisal Abdulaziz Al Bannai, Secretary General of the ATRC.
BACKGROUND - Established in 2020, the formation of new ventures to commercialise its research has always been part of the mandate for the ATRC. For this reason, VentureOne was created as the commercialisation arm of the council. However, it wasn’t until November last year that AI71 was launched, the ATRC’s first commercial spin-off. Formed by VentureOne as an AI company to compete globally, AI71 creates and markets products and services based on TII’s Falcon series of large language models. In February this year, it was announced that the ATRC would launch a series of new technology ventures, which we now know are the three new ventures announced this week.
Updated 24-Jul-24 to include venture technologies and solutions
LINKS
Read the media statement on the board meeting (Abu Dhabi Media Office)
Read more about the ATRC board of directors:
ATRC to launch a series of new tech ventures (Middle East AI News)
R&D moves up Abu Dhabi's agenda (Middle East AI News)