Stop 1: University · Abu Dhabi
MBZUAI
Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence - the world's first graduate-level research university dedicated entirely to AI.
Ecosystem directory
AI research and talent
Where is the research done, and where do the people come from?
Hiring and horizon-scanning turn out to be the same question here: the institutions producing the research are also the ones producing the people, and the federal talent programme is the demand signal sitting behind almost every AI training initiative in the country. The compute entries are included because at the scale the UAE is building, infrastructure is part of the research story rather than separate from it.
10 stops, in the order we would take them
See everything tagged AI researchStop 2: University · Abu Dhabi
Khalifa University
Research university with substantial AI, robotics and autonomous systems programmes.
Stop 3: University · Sharjah
American University of Sharjah
Undergraduate and graduate AI and computer engineering programmes, with links into SRTIP.
Stop 4: Research institution · Dubai
Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government
Public policy school running AI policy and governance programmes aimed at government and public sector leaders.
Stop 5: Initiative · Federal
1 Million AI Talents Initiative
The federal programme to develop one million AI-skilled professionals - the demand signal behind most AI training activity in the country.
Stop 6: Initiative · Dubai
Dubai AI Campus
A dedicated AI cluster in Dubai Internet City housing over 400 specialized companies, with an AI Academy that has trained over 1,500 participants.
Stop 7: Infrastructure provider · Abu Dhabi
Stargate UAE
A one-gigawatt AI compute cluster at Masdar City, developed with OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia and SoftBank. Context for the scale of the UAE's AI infrastructure commitment.
Stop 8: Company · Abu Dhabi
G42
Abu Dhabi's AI and cloud computing group, operating across healthcare, energy and government. Included as ecosystem context.
Stop 9: Research institution · Abu Dhabi
Technology Innovation Institute (TII)
The applied-research pillar of Abu Dhabi's Advanced Technology Research Council, with centres for AI and digital science, quantum, robotics and cryptography. Developer of the Falcon open-source language models.
Stop 10: University · Dubai
Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU)
Dubai's accredited smart and e-learning university, established under the Dubai Government, with programmes centred on technology-enabled education.
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Tell us which stop you are at and what is holding you there.
The order is where we would start, not a ranking. No entry here is paid for.