#ICYMI 10/14: UAE Tech & Digital News at a Glance

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header image for tech & digital news from across the UAE: issue 3

Filling the skills gap is top of the agenda, with last week seeing the launch of coding schools, cloud training for small businesses and AI schools for the government sector all announced. There’s more evidence that the remote workforce is the new normal. And I ask you to consider, can an AI robot dog have consciousness?

All this and more in this, your weekly briefing on the latest tech & digital news to emerge from the UAE.

CODING THE FUTURE

UAE launches ambitious coding school providing an educational platform to build digital skills and a homegrown, future-ready workforce equipped to lead the technology-driven economy of the 21st century.

HOW TO GET AHEAD IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

Abu Dhabi has launched an SME training programme with Amazon to help small businesses analyse gaps in cloud computing skills and accelerate the digital transformation of their organisations.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WILL DOMINATE

AI is central to the UAE’s economic growth agenda, according to Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and chairman of the MBZUAI Board of Trustees.

MBZ University will train the UAE’s government and business leaders with practical skills and a professional network to tap into the cutting-edge technology.

 

WE’RE ON THE DAWN OF A REMOTE WORK BOOM

Organisations need to act with speed to ensure that they accommodate their employees’ needs by investing in ways that support remote working.

PAY WITH YOUR FACE?

Facial recognition technology, big data and analytics will transform Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island in strategy designed to streamline and offer an enhanced guest experience.

ETHICAL CROWDFUNDING ARRIVES IN UAE

Islamic FinTech company launch crowdfunding platform that matches UAE-based capital groups and investors with ethical, early stage tech companies.

SPORT TECH’S LOOKING FIT

The sports & fitness industry in MENA reached a quarterly record of funding in Q3 2021, as Tech-integrated sports apps like STEPPIRumbl ($1.1M), and Enhance Fitness ($3M) close major rounds.

WHAT IS T&L TECH?

Eyes should be on the Transport & Logistics sector – an industry working on developing new hardware and Tech-driven solutions for the last mile delivery sector. The sector observed a 122% YoY growth in funding in 2021.
Companies to watch in the T&L space in the region include:
UAE-based Fenix, Lyve Global and new comer, Rizek.

STARTUP FUNDING

With the return of in-person events like Gitex Global and the Dubai Expo 2020, the UAE startup ecosystem and investment future look promising.

BitOasis raises $30 million and sets out mission to build the largest and most trusted cryptocurrency platform in the region.

 

PEER OPINION

In light of last week’s social meltdown, award-winning Emirati journalist Manar Al Hinai explains why businesses should prepare for the effects of future outages with the same sense of urgency they would have prepared for Cyclone Shaheen.

BE THAT PERSON. GREAT ANECDOTE

Did you know, Dubai-based developer Pavel Durov’s platform, Telegram, gained 70 million users while Facebook was down.It’s bigger than Disneyland Resort in California and New York’s Central Park. It is bigger than Beijing’s Forbidden City, including Tiananmen Square. Even London’s famous Square Mile is smaller, as is Australia’s Ayres Rock. Just how big is the Expo 2020 site?

 

LISTEN, THIS WILL MAKE YOU SMART

The creators of aibo robot dog say it has ‘real emotions and instinct’. Make your own mind. Listen to this (excellent) podcast: A Dog’s Inner Life: What a Robot Pet Can Teach You About Consciousness.