UniversityAbu Dhabi
MBZUAI
Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence - the world's first graduate-level research university dedicated entirely to AI.
- AI research
- Education
Explore by purpose
AI research and talent
Where is the research done, and where do the people come from?
Why this order
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.
The entries
10 from the directory, in order
UniversityAbu Dhabi
Khalifa University
Research university with substantial AI, robotics and autonomous systems programmes.
- AI research
- Education
UniversitySharjah
American University of Sharjah
Undergraduate and graduate AI and computer engineering programmes, with links into SRTIP.
- Education
- AI research
Research institutionDubai
Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government
Public policy school running AI policy and governance programmes aimed at government and public sector leaders.
- Policy
- Governance
InitiativeFederal
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.
- Talent
- Education
InitiativeDubai
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.
- Entrepreneurship
- Education
Infrastructure providerAbu 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.
- Infrastructure
- AI research
CompanyAbu Dhabi
G42
Abu Dhabi's AI and cloud computing group, operating across healthcare, energy and government. Included as ecosystem context.
- Infrastructure
- AI research
Research institutionAbu 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.
- AI research
UniversityDubai
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.
- Education
Other pathways
11 entries
Starting an AI company in the UAE
The jurisdictions an AI company can be licensed in, and the startup platforms that come with the ecosystem attached.
12 entries
Funding and accelerator programmes
The programmes that write cheques, run cohorts or open enterprise doors - sorted by the stage they actually serve.
7 entries
Understanding AI governance
The federal and Dubai bodies setting AI policy, plus the frameworks worth reading alongside them.