UAE launches National Program for Coders; MENA funding rises 64%
Good morning,
Here’s your weekly roundup of Middle East AI News!
I'm excited to share this week's news of the UAE's 'National Program for Coders', not just because it's a great idea to incentivise coders and build national capacity, but because how it supports the many other initiatives that have already been set in motion.
The one criticism that I've heard over and over - in the past - about the UAE's efforts to build a technology sector was that it was all too real estate-focused and not focused enough on building the right ecosystems. These days, there's a breadth and depth of UAE tech initiatives. From government policy and regulation down, through to open data projects, startup incentives, efforts to shape the venture capital ecosystem, investment in R&D and programmes to attract, train and retain talent - one can see the tremendous amount of care and effort being taken to develop a tech sector that invents and innovates.
This week's announcement to attract and train 100,000 coders in the UAE and offer 100,000 coders 'Golden Visas' looks particularly meaningful, when you consider the the other programmes already in place to develop and retain talent: the ongoing AI and digital training for government leaders; a surge in AI-focused university programmes in the UAE over the past five years; the scholarship-only AI university in Abu Dhabi (MBZUAI); and, of course, the One Million Arab Coders programme launched in 2017.
As I noted in an article in The National last year, it's the new positioning of the UAE as an enabler, not simply a destination, that is going to serve the country well in the war for tech talent.
Scroll down for all the National Program for Coder's stories and more!
Stay safe and have a great weekend!
/Carrington
UAE National Program for Coders
UAE 'National Program for Coders' aims to train 100,000 coders — wam.ae
#UAE #UAECoders - Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum has announced a 'National Program for Coders' in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco, Facebook, Google, Group 42 (G42), Huawei, IBM, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Nvidia and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). The series of national initiatives aims to train 100,000 coders and establish 1,000 digital companies increasing UAE investment in startups from AED 1.5 billion ($400m) to AED 4 billion ($1 billion). (Emirates News Agency)
UAE sets out plan to provide 100,000 golden visas for world's best coders — www.thenationalnews.com
#UAE #UAECoders - As part of the National Program for Coders, the UAE has set out its plan to provide 100,000 'Golden' 10 year visas to the best computer programming talent both in the UAE and across the globe, under the National Program for Coders. (The National)
8 universities to train 20,000 students in UAE National Program for Coders — www.khaleejtimes.com
#UAE #UAECoders - The National Programme for Coders has announced that eight national universities will empower 20,000 students with coding skills as part of the first phase of the programme. Universities includes the Higher Colleges of Technology, Khalifa University, Zayed University, University of Dubai, Abu Dhabi University, Mohammed bin Zayed University for Artificial Intelligence, American University in Dubai and the University of Sharjah. (Khaleej Times)
National Program for Coders and Emirates launch first Coders Club in UAE — www.mediaoffice.ae
#UAE #UAECoders - The National Program for Coders in collaboration with the Emirates Group announced the launch of "EK Koders", the first coders club in the UAE. The club will help develop technological and digital skills of local and international coders and encourage innovation projects in the aviation, travel, tourism and logistics sectors. (Dubai Media Office)
Startup News
Funding to MENA startups rises 64 per cent to $1.2bn in first half of 2021 — www.thenationalnews.com
#MENA #funding - The total funding secured by startups in the MENA region rose by 64 per cent in the first half of the year to reach $1.2 billion, according to Magnitt. As economies in the region continue to recover from coronavirus pandemic and investors are allocating more cash to startups. (The National)
Egypt’s ShipBlu closes pre-seed round with funds from Saudi and San Francisco — thestartupscene.me
#Egypt #funding - Cairo-based AI-powered e-commerce shipping startup, ShipBlu Technologies, has closed an undisclosed pre-Seed investment round led by Saudi Arabia-based technology-focused VC Nama Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator and other prominent angel investors from San Francisco and Saudi Arabia. (The Startup Scene)
Saudi Aramco VC arm invests in Chinese medical robot startup Fourier Intelligence — www.arabnews.com
#China #Saudi #funding - Prosperity7 Ventures, the venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco, has invested in Chinese medical rehabilitation robot startup Fourier Intelligence as part of the startup’s Series C+ funding round. The Shanghai-headquartered firm has R&D centres in Singapore, Chicago, Phoenix, Zurich, Melbourne, Madrid, Kobe and Kuala Lumpur, and primarily sells physical rehabilitation equipment and robots. (Arab News)
R&D
United Arab Emirates University and Daman sign MoU to focus on AI and Big Data research — pressreleasenetwork.com
#UAE #healthcare - United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) and national health insurance company Daman have signed an MoU to focus on advanced research and training in emerging fields such as AI, Big Data and analytics. UAEU has recently established a Big Data Analytics Center (BIDAC) for research and services. (Press Release Network)
Education
Egypt adopts AI Singapore’s AI apprenticeship programme and 'AI for Everyone' to up-skill nation — enterprisetalk.com
#Egypt #Singapore #education - AI Singapore (AISG) and Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) have signed an agreement to implement two of AISG’s premier talent development programmes in AI, the AI Apprenticeship Programme (AIAP) and AI for Everyone (AI4E). (Enterprise Talk)
SCAD and MBZUAI launch executive program to train leaders on data science & data analytics — www.zawya.com
#UAE #training - The Statistical Training Institute of the Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi (SCAD), in collaboration with Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), has launched a new training programme for senior Abu Dhabi government leaders. The training progamme focuses on data science and strategy. (Zawya.)
Investment
‘Technology Business City’ approved by Kuwait's Youth Development Authority — www.arabtimesonline.com
#Kuwait #startups - Kuwait's Youth Development Authority has approved a plan to build 'Technology Business City' to create an attractive environment for SMEs, startups and entrepreneurship, in partnership with the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority. The authorities plan to make the 13 square kilometre project a leading incubator of technology businesses. (Arab Times)
Space
KAUST uses AI to identify sites on Moon for landing and exploration — www.theengineer.co.uk
#HongKong #Saudi #space - A joint research team from KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) and The Chinese University of Hong Kong are using applied machine learning and AI to automate the identification of prospective lunar landing and exploration areas. (The Engineer)
Space agency completes hi-tech survey of palm trees in Bahrain — www.zawya.com
#Bahrain #palmtrees - Bahrain's National Space Sciences Agency (NSSA) has completed a census to survey the number of palm trees in the kingdom, using AI to identify trees by analysing high-resolution satellite image data. The study found a 16% increase in the number of palm trees. (Zawya)
Security
300,000 cameras make Dubai 'one of the safest cities' in the world - Dubai Ruler — www.khaleejtimes.com
#UAE #surveillance - Dubai is monitored by more than 300,000 CCTV cameras making it one of the safest cities on earth, according to H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, commenting during his visit to Dubai Police headquarters. The police’s Oyoon (eyes) project uses AI video analysis to detect criminals and crime in the emirate. (Khaleej Times)
Watch the weekly AI video summary
Follow the #hashtag on LinkedIn
View last week’s newsletter
Sign-up to receive Asia AI News too!
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.