MBZUAI, World Economic Forum to establish new C4IR
New UAE C4IR to focus on AI research, governance and innovation
#UnitedArabEmirates #C4IR #WEF2026 – Abu Dhabi-based Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has signed an agreement with Switzerland-headquartered World Economic Forum to establish a Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, part of a global expansion creating six new centres across the UAE, United Kingdom, France and India. Hosted by MBZUAI, the UAE centre will advance global AI excellence and strengthen national and regional competitiveness by convening leaders across sectors to co-design and pilot initiatives supporting AI research, governance, adoption and innovation. The expansion reflects the World Economic Forum’s strategy to support responsible adoption of frontier technologies focusing on artificial intelligence, energy transition and cyber resilience across growing priority areas for governments and industry.
SO WHAT? – The agreement recognises the UAE’s increasing role as both AI research hub and implementation testbed, where academic research can be translated into policy frameworks and practical deployment through government and industry partnerships. The signing follows a similar agreement between WEF and Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute to establish a Abu Dhabi Centre for Frontier Technologies and the C4IR in neighbouring Dubai, which opened in 2019. The new C4IR potentially bolsters MBZUAI’s role in shaping AI governance discussions whilst contributing regional perspectives to global technology policy development addressing economic, social and human challenges.
Here are some key points regarding the new C4IR signing:
Abu Dhabi-based Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) signed an agreement with World Economic Forum to establish a Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, part of a six-centre global expansion across the UAE, United Kingdom, France and India.
MBZUAI is a graduate-level research university focused on artificial intelligence education and research across machine learning, computer vision and natural language processing domains.
The UAE centre will be integrated into the C4IR Global Network, convening leaders across sectors to co-design and pilot initiatives supporting AI research, governance, adoption and innovation whilst advancing global AI excellence and strengthening national and regional competitiveness.
The new centres will focus on artificial intelligence, energy transition and cyber resilience, reflecting areas of growing interest and priority for governments and industry in responsible adoption of frontier technologies.
The centre will function as a platform connecting frontier AI research directly to economic, social and human challenges, focusing on how AI systems interact with people, institutions and economies to translate algorithms into real-world impact.
The World Economic Forum’s C4IR Global Network acts as a platform for translating innovation into practical policy solutions, pilots and frameworks that can be adapted across borders through collaboration between governments, industry and experts.
The upcoming centres will address regional priorities whilst contributing to shared international dialogue and cooperation, strengthening global efforts to advance emerging technologies responsibly through local and regional insights from partners.
The centre represents the second C4IR agreement signed for the UAE, following the announcement of the Abu Dhabi Centre for Frontier Technologies to be established by Technology Innovation Institute (TII) and World Economic Forum in a deal announced earlier this week.
ZOOM OUT – Technology Innovation Institute (and the World Economic Forum announced the Abu Dhabi Centre for Frontier Technologies at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos. Part of the C4IR Global Network, the centre will focus on quantum computing, robotics, propulsion and space systems, and related AI applications. TII is the applied research arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), with the centre established to lead breakthroughs in frontier research and development, advance global policy on emerging technologies and foster international collaboration. The UAE offers a platform for piloting and scaling emerging technologies at national level supported by an agile regulatory environment, with the centre aiming to advance Abu Dhabi’s thought leadership through proof-of-concept pilots, regulatory sandboxes and global convenings.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
Read more about C4IR news:
WEF & TII announce Frontier Technologies Research Centre (Middle East AI News)
Compelling institutional framing here. The research-to-policy loop at MBZUAI's C4IR matters because academic AI work often stays disconnected from governane challenges. Having both TII and MBZUAI centers means UAE can run parallel experiments across foundational tech and applied AI govrnance, which is pretty rare. The sectoral convening model dunno how much it'll actually shape global norms tho.