Milagrow opens in Middle East; Magic Leap and Aramco to create innovation centre
Good morning,
Here’s this week's roundup of Middle East AI News!
March was an exciting month for technology in the region and when I tried to summarise all the new initiatives and developments for The AI Journal, I found it simply impossible to include everything in one article!
This week, provided a busy end to an encouragingly busy month. Today, you'll find news on funding, R&D, robotics, AI voice, the environment and partnerships galore!
In a statement yesterday, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai confirmed industries driven by AI and advanced technology will drive UAE’s future sustainable growth, and form the focus of 'Operation 300bn'.
Meanwhile, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced 'Shareek', a new SR 12 trillion ($3.2 trillion) programme on Tuesday to boost the role of the private sector in diversifying the economy. It's hard to imagine that emerging technologies and 4IR ventures won't be a target for this investment.
Scroll down for more. You'll also find details of next week's Fueling The Future WIRED virtual summit at the end of this newsletter.
Stay safe and have a great weekend!
/Carrington
Startup News
Weelo raises 6-figure seed round to transform sales order automation in supply chain — dailynewsegypt.com
#Egypt #funding - AI-powered sales and supply-chain platform Weelo has raised a six-figure seed funding round. The platform manages the sales cycle for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises from warehouse to cash collection through advanced analytics and a real-time management system. (Daily News Egypt)
Saudi company wins first runner up in 14th MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup event — saudigazette.com.sa
#Saudi #startups - The Saudi project Genomez, winner of the third place in the ideas track in the fifth edition of MITEF Saudi Startup Competition was among the 6 winners of the 14th edition of MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition (Saudi Gazette)
UAE 'Operation 300bn'
Industries driven by AI and advanced tech will drive UAE’s future sustainable growth — www.wam.ae
#UAE #Operation300bn - His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, confirmed in a statement yesterday that industries of the future - those driven by AI and advanced technology - are central to the UAE government’s efforts to secure sustainable long-term economic growth. (Emirates News Agency)
R&D
MBZUAI and Technology Innovation Institute sign key AI R&D deal — www.itp.net
#UAE #R&D - Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has signed a strategic agreement with the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), to collaborate on the advancement of AI initiatives and strengthening the AI ecosystem in the UAE and overseas. (ITP)
PIF-backed US tech firm planning innovation centre with Aramco — www.arabnews.com
#Saudi #USA - Magic Leap, a US augmented reality startup backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, is negotiating with oil giant Saudi Aramco to open a first-of-its-kind computing innovation centre in the Kingdom, according to CEO Peggy Johnson. (Arab News)
KAUST Challenge: Ideas and solutions for Hajj and Umrah — www.arabnews.com
#Saudi #Hajj - Dr. Anis Koubaa, director of the robotics and Internet of Things lab at Prince Sultan University was awarded a prize in the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Challenge. He developed an AI solution to automatically check vehicles an so decrease congestion during Hajj. (Arab News)
Robotics
Milagrow enters the Middle East, opens new office in Dafza — gulfnews.com
#India #UAE #robotics - India's number one domestic #robotics company Milagrow Robots, is expanding into the Middle East with the opening of its new office in Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (DAFZA). (Gulf News)
AI Voice
Google Assistant now provides AI-powered mental health support to Arabic speakers — www.thenationalnews.com
#UAE #GoogleAssistant - Google's AI-powered voice assistant platform is to provide mental health and emotional support for Arabic speakers. The Arabic language Google Assistant service has been developed by Google MENA in partnership with Dubai-based healthtech startup Safe Space. (The National)
National AI Strategy
Dubai Municipality, RTA join 'AI Code Hub' — wam.ae
#UAE #AICodeHub - The National Programme for Artificial Intelligence announced that Dubai Municipality and the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) have joined the AI software platform "AI Code Hub". The initiative aims to share knowledge, technological expertise and open-source software. (Emirates News Agency)
Dubai Future Foundation, Emirates sign MoU to bring more innovation to the aviation sector — www.khaleejtimes.com
#UAE #aviation - Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) has signed an MoU with Emirates Airline to develop innovative solutions and enhance the future-readiness of the UAE’s aviation sector. Emirates hopes that DFF's R&D resources will help the organisation deploy AI and robotics in several fields. (Khaleej Times)
Energy
Injazat, Lamprell announce joint venture for digital energy solutions — gulfbusiness.com
#UAE #digitalenergy - Technology firm Injazat, a Group 42 company, and energy services firm Lamprell have announced a joint venture to develop digital solutions for the renewable energy sector as well as oil & gas industries. The JV launches with initial funding of $7m split equally between the partners. (Gulf Business)
Logistics
KAUST, Tabadul sign MoU to transform Saudi logistics using digitisation and AI — saudigazette.com.sa
#Saudi #logistics - King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Tuesday announced their collaboration with Tabadul, Saudi Arabia’s leading digital logistics services provider, to undertake research and innovation projects, including hackathons and bootcamps. (Saudi Gazette)
Cloud
KPMG, Oracle partner to back Saudi digital economy; Oracle plans additional cloud regions — www.tradearabia.com
#Saudi #UAE #Cloud - KPMG and Oracle have announced an agreement to accelerate the adoption of cloud-based emerging technologies in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Oracle is planning to create a second Cloud Region in Saudi Arabia (the first is in Jeddah) and second one in UAE (the first is in Dubai). (Trade Arabia)
AI Diplomacy
Chinese FM lauds China-UAE cooperation, friendship — www.chinadaily.com.cn
#China #UAE - Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday lauded the ties between China and the UAE featuring mutual trust, pioneering cooperation and solid friendship. The countries continue to explore cooperation in fighting the COVID-19, vaccines, energy, trade, investment, infrastructure, and high technologies including 5G, big data, and artificial intelligence. (China Daily)
Environment
Carnegie Mellon uses AI and robots to explore Qatar's waters — menafn.com
#Qatar #marineenvironment - Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar's (CMU-Q) Gianni Di Caro, is using AI and a fleet of autonomous marine robots to better explore the marine environment around Qatar. Di Caro, who is leading a team of researchers, is an associate teaching professor at CMU-Q, a Qatar Foundation partner university. (Gulf Times)
Events
Fueling The Future - WIRED Summit, 7 April — wired.me
#UAE #WIREDSummit - On Wednesday April 7, WIRED and Bee’ah will host Fueling The Future, a half-day virtual summit gathering thinkers, innovators, and business leaders to explore how AI will impact the economy and society of the Middle East and beyond. Register for free here. (WIRED ME)
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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.