startAD launches AI health sector barometer for UAE
52 organisations surveyed, two implementation playbooks published
#UAE #healthcare — Abu Dhabi startup accelerator startAD, powered by Tamkeen and anchored at New York University Abu Dhabi, has launched the AI Adoption Barometer, the first practitioner-informed snapshot of how UAE healthcare and social impact organisations are adopting AI. Built through startAD’s AI for Good initiative with support from Google.org, the Barometer draws on insights from 52 UAE-based organisations. Alongside it, startAD has published two practical implementation playbooks and opened a new AI Resource Hub to help organisations move from interest to deployment.
SO WHAT? — The numbers from the new AI Adoption Barometer highlight a clear gap in the UAE’s healthcare sector. 81 percent of healthcare institutions have defined AI use cases and more than half are already piloting or deploying solutions, yet 42 percent have no dedicated AI budget. Admittedly, this is a point in time of the sectors AI adoption cycle and can be expected to change. However, the lack of dedicated AI budget is a structural problem nonetheless. For the social impact sector, the challenge runs deeper, with many organisations still working out where AI fits before they can think about funding it.
KEY POINTS:
startAD, the Abu Dhabi startup accelerator anchored at New York University Abu Dhabi and powered by government-owned company Tamkeen, has launched the AI Adoption Barometer. The report was developed with financial support from Google.org as part of the accelerator’s AI for Good initiative.
The Barometer draws on insights from 52 UAE-based organisations across healthcare and social impact sectors. Questions covered use case definition, governance, resource allocation, responsible deployment and impact measurement.
81% of surveyed UAE healthcare organisations have defined AI use cases and 58% are already piloting or deploying solutions, but 42% report having no dedicated AI budget.
In the social impact sector, the challenge is more foundational, with many organisations still working to define use cases and build internal capacity before deployment becomes viable.
startAD published two implementation playbooks alongside the Barometer: the AI Use Case Discovery Playbook, which guides non-technical teams from idea to testable use case, and the Evaluate and Pilot AI Solutions Playbook, which walks teams through assessing and running a responsible pilot.
Both playbooks are available through the new startAD AI Resource Hub.
The AI for Good programme has to date engaged five organisations through 13 AI readiness workshops, delivered a 43% overall increase in AI readiness among participants, and mobilised close to 200 university students and solution builders across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the wider MENA region.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
Source: StartupAD
