UAE To Create New Task Force For Digital Economy, Minister Says

The UAE will set up a task force to create a next-generation economy structure for 2050-2060, the Minister of Economy told theGITEX GLOBAL Leaders Vision today.

Speaking at the Vision UAE day of the conference, His Excellency Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marrisaid that government and business leaders need to think beyond the pandemic to a digitally enabled economy driven by imagination.

His Excellency Al Marri said that talent would fuel the future economy and that the UAE had demonstrated its resilience and promise by delivering a 13% increase in exports in 2020 compared to 2019, despite the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Minister confirmed that key B2B cross-national discussions are taking place at Expo 2020 Dubai with digitalisation, diversification and tourism dominating agendas.

Space Programme aiding economic diversification:

GITEX GLOBAL Leaders Vision also heard that the UAE Government is looking to the private sector to contribute 50% to the upstream development of its 2030 mission to explore Venus and the Asteroid Belt. Ibrahim Al Qasim, Executive Director, Space Sector, UAE Space Agency said the next space race would be fought by the private sector, with governments providing investment and regulations to mitigate risks and enable critical innovation.

Abu Dhabi Investment Office attracts big names in tech

The Abu Dhabi Investment Office has attracted eight major ICT players to the emirate this year,GITEX GLOBAL Leaders Vision heard. Souad Al Hosani, Acting Director of Investor Care, said the Emirate is prioritising public-private sector co-operation and proved an abundance of opportunities by lifting inward FDI by 44% last year compared to 2019, despite the pandemic.

Abu Dhabi’s Q Studio’s Inaugural Built Venture on the horizon

Abu Dhabi’s Q Studio, DisruptAD’s venture builder, is hopeful of realising its inaugural company by the year end, according to Majid Al Mail, Head of Q Studio and DisruptAD’s Venture Builder & Associate Director of ADQ, which champion’s sector development in the emirate. Al Mail identified mobility and logistics as ripe for disruption in the UAE.