Dubai RTA trials Alibaba's City Brain; 4IR Forum kicks off in Saudi
Good morning,
Here’s your weekly roundup of Middle East AI News!
Interesting news from Dubai's RTA this week, as it revealed that it has been trialing City Brain, Alibaba Cloud's AI-powered urban traffic-management system. RTA, of course, has been heavily investing in trials and implementation of different AI systems over the past few years and announced its updated five-year AI strategy towards the end of last year.
The authority has been using AI for customer service, crowd management, detecting Covid safety compliance, heavy vehicle inspection and last month announced an AI-powered search engine to help employees search for legal knowledge and resources. The RTA trial of City Brain focuses on improving its bus operations in Dubai.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's minister of communications and information technology last night confirmed that the Kingdom expects advanced technology from the Fourth Industrial Revolution is expected to generate around 1 trillion riyals for the Saudi economy in new revenue streams. He made the remarks at a 4IR Forum organised by KACST and the World Economic Forum. The forum continues this evening.
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Stay safe and have a great weekend!
/Carrington
Smart Cities
Dubai RTA trials Alibaba's City Brain — www.rta.ae
#UAE #smartcities - Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority has started trialing Alibaba Cloud's City Brain to manage traffic in the emirate's urban areas. City Brain is expected to improve RTA bus usage by 17 percent, average waiting time by 10 percent, and the journey time and the average bus usage by 5 percent. (RTA)
Startup News
Authentication developer Callsign sets up technical excellence centre in Abu Dhabi — www.thenationalnews.com
#UAE #R&D - Callsign, an identity fraud, authorisation, and authentication company, has built a world-class centre of technical excellence in Abu Dhabi’s Hub71 to lead innovation in the space of digital trust globally. The centre will employ a team of highly-skilled AI and machine learning professionals. (The National)
AI delivery services app WeDeliver raises $2.4 million pre-Seed round — www.wamda.com
#Saudi #funding - B2B logistics and last-mile delivery services provider WeDeliver has raised a $2.4 million pre-Seed round from Saudi logistics company Salasel Alemdad, VEST investment company, Paltel Telcom Group, the Mutasami family fund, Arcom Technologies, as well as other investors. WeDeliver uses AI and a mobile app to connect businesses that have parcels to be delivered with freelancer drivers. (Wamda)
Abu Dhabi’s Hub71 picked to endorse tech entrepreneurs for golden visas — www.thenationalnews.com
#UAE #startups - Technology ecosystem Hub71 has been selected by the Abu Dhabi Residents Office, a division of the emirate's Department of Economic Development, to endorse exceptional technology talent for the Entrepreneur Golden Visa programme in the UAE capital, which provides visa holders with five years residency. (The National)
AI Policy
Oman introduces policy for government departments harnessing AI — timesofoman.com
#Oman #AIpolicy - Oman's Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology has issued a circular outlining policy on government use of AI. The policy includes six ethical principles: comprehensiveness, humanity, responsibility, justice, transparency and safety, which the government hopes will enhance confidence in artificial intelligence and support better governance. (Times of Oman)
Energy
DEWA, Stanford University to develop advanced system for photovoltaic production — www.wam.ae
#UAE #solar - Dubai Electricity and Water Authority's (DEWA) Space-D programme is collaborating with Stanford University to develop an advanced system to forecast Photovoltaic (PV) production at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world. The system uses AI, deep learning, high-density satellite cameras and data from a network of meteorological stations. (Emirates News Agency)
AI solution for breast cancer detection to be launched in Qatar — www.tradearabia.com
#Qatar #healthcare - Kheiron Medical Technologies has signed an agreement with Qatar's Medtech Corporation to bring its Mia solution, a deep learning AI solution that works with radiologists to improve breast cancer detection, into the country. (Trade Arabia)
Archaeology
Khalifa University uses remote sensing and AI to find unexplored archaeological sites — wam.ae
#UAE #archaeology - Researchers at the Environmental and Geophysical Sciences (ENGEOS) Lab of Khalifa University of Science and Technology have used satellite remote sensing data and machine learning to detect buried objects in known archaeological sites and to identify potentially unexplored sites in the UAE. (Emirates News Agency)
Education
Murdoch University Dubai students create AI tool to boost online education — www.khaleejtimes.com
#UAE #emotionrecognition - Murdoch University Dubai under the mentorship of their faculty have created a prototype AI tool that uses facial data collected from students' webcams during online classes, extracts emotion attributes and maps it with Bloom’s Taxonomy, a global standard of behavioural and cognitive learning outcomes. (Khaleej Times)
Events
Saudi Arabia holds first forum on future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution — english.aawsat.com
#Saudi #4IR - 'Harnessing the 4IR in Saudi Arabia', the first-ever event on the future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Kingdom, began yesterday. Organised by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and the World Economic Forum, the two-day forum will discuss the impact of emerging technologies on industry and society. (Asharq Al Awsat)
Saudi Arabia anticipates 1 trillion riyal injection from 4IR technology — www.arabnews.com
#Saudi #4IR - Advanced technology from the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is expected to generate around 1 trillion riyals for the Saudi economy in new revenue streams, the minister of communications and IT confirmed at yesterday's 4IR Forum. The Kingdom will enjoy economic boosts from robotics, artificial intelligence, and wireless production models as it pushes for more smarter cities. (Arab News)
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About Carrington Malin — www.carringtonmalin.com Carrington Malin helps large organisations, digital brands and fast growing tech ventures with brand, communications and go-to-market strategies.