OurCrowd partners for $100m UAE fund; Oxford, KAU JV for AI drugs
Good morning,
Here’s your weekly Middle East AI News!
A few major partnership announcements made this week.
Firstly, Oxford University and King AbdulAziz University have agreed to create a joint global Centre for AI in Precision Medicines, which will use AI for drug discovery. The deal will see R&D in both universities, plus Saudi students attend Oxford.
There is also the new joint venture investment company Phoenix Capital and its first $100 million VC fund, backed by Israel's OurCrowd and Abdullah Saeed Al Naboodah. The fund will offer UAE investors access to OurCrowd's portfolio of Israeli startups.
Meanwhile, ADNOC and Group 42 officially announced their new joint venture company AIQ yesterday. A new venture that will develop commercial AI solutions for the oil and gas industry. Plans for the venture were originally announced last year.
Stay safe & have a great weekend!
/Carrington
Venture Capital
Israel's OurCrowd and UAE's Al Naboodah create $100m fund for Gulf tech investors — www.thenational.ae
#Israel #UAE #VC - UAE businessman Abdullah Saeed Al Naboodah has partnered with Israel's OurCrowd venture capital to form Phoenix Capital, with a $100 million (AED 367m) fund to back technology investments between the two countries. The new venture will create an investment portal that enables investors to access OurCrowd’s portfolio of more than 220 companies in AgriTech, HealthTech, AI and robotics. (The National)
Dr. Sabah Al-Binali koins OurCrowd as UAE-based venture partner & head of Gulf region — aithority.com
#Israel #UAE #VC - OurCrowd, the world’s largest global venture investing platform and Israel’s most active venture investor, announced the appointment of Dr. Sabah al-Binali as UAE-based venture partner and head of the Gulf region. (AIthority)
R&D
New partnership with King Abdulaziz University aims to revolutionise drug discovery using AI — www.tdi.ox.ac.uk
#Saudi #UK #R&D - The University of Oxford and King AbdulAziz University ( KAU) signed an agreement on Thursday to form the first joint global Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Precision Medicines. (Oxford University)
ADNOC, Abu Dhabi-based Group 42 launch 'AIQ', AI joint venture company — wam.ae
#UAE #R&D - The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) yesterday announced the launch of AIQ, its AI joint venture company with Abu Dhabi AI and cloud computing company Group 42. AIQ will focus on developing and commercialising AI products and applications. (Emirates News Agency)
Ericsson's AI & Analytics Hub in Egypt achieves software milestone — www.zawya.com
#Egypt #R&D - Ericsson’s AI & Analytics Hub in Egypt has achieved a key milestone by shipping its first Cognitive Software to be used by Ericsson customers worldwide to design and optimise networks. (Zawya)
Education
Samsung launches online programme to train UAE youth in AI and machine learning — www.thenational.ae
#UAE #education - Samsung is rolling out a new course offering an introduction to machine learning and AI in the UAE. The course will be part of its global Future Academy initiative. (Gulf Business)
Health
How AI can help employees improve mental health and wellbeing — www.thenational.ae
#UAE #wellbeing - A new survey by software firm Oracle and consultancy Workplace Intelligence, found that almost 86 per cent of UAE respondents believe that AI had improved their mental health at work, compared with a global average of 75 per cent. (The National)
Smart Cities
The UAE adopts holistic urban mobility approach — www.arabianaerospace.aero
#UAE #UAS - Abu Dhabi and Dubai ranked within the top 50 cities on the Urban Mobility Readiness Index 2020: The Next Chapter of Mobility Ecosystems and were amongst the highest ranked in the Middle East region, according to new research by the Oliver Wyman Forum. (Arabian Aerospace)
RTA starts installing smart screens to display real-time updates of public buses — gulfnews.com
#UAE #smarttransport - Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has started installing new generation smart screens to display real-time updates of public buses operating in the city, in line with the Smart Dubai initiative. (Gulf News)
AI Policy
UAE a pioneer of employing AI to build knowledge-based economy: Omar Al Olama — wam.ae
#UAE #AIpolicy - Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Teleworking Applications, described the UAE as a pioneer in employing AI to build a knowledge-based economy and shape the future of vital sectors. He made the comments during the first meeting of the 'UAE Artificial Intelligence Experts Group'. (WAM)
AI Diplomacy
Egypt, France discuss joint cooperation on AI, entrepreneurship — dailynewsegypt.com
#Egypt #France #AI - Technology ministers for Egypt and France discussed ways to enhance Egyptian-French cooperation in a number of fields. The talks focused particularly on capacity building, providing support for entrepreneurship, as well as AI research and development. (Daily News Egypt)
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About Carrington Malin — www.carringtonmalin.com
Carrington Malin is a UAE-based entrepreneur, marketer and writer who focuses on emerging technologies.