The UAE’s journey in the past 50 years has been unprecedented by any global measure or index. The following 50 years could be more so, becoming the new golden era of achievements for a country brimming in global ambition and aspiration.
When Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, addressed the nation last month to outline his vision for the country, it was a perfectly timed and insightful intervention. It both set the national priorities and demonstrated the moral compass that continues to guide us, influenced by the late Founding Father, Sheikh Zayed. These deep-rooted values provide the essence of who we are and what we do as we power ahead towards our future, connecting the collective abilities of our country through its people.
As Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed reiterated, the top priority for the country remains the welfare of its people to live fulfilled and happy lives. Empowering people to achieve has been at the heart of the UAE’s approach, and that remains the case for the future too. It is people that drive innovation, people that deliver economic success, and people that will provide the benefits of a diversified economy. It is also people who are behind the development of the technology solutions and their applications who will play a big part in delivering these achievements.
With innovation in the national DNA, we embrace the opportunities that technology can enable as we shape our future, bringing increased competitiveness, productivity, and growth gains.
This focus on people is felt right across every business, sector, and every one of us. It is a source of strength and the pride of the nation. At Injazat, we are empowering human achievement, connecting the opportunities of digital and technology to the ambitions of businesses and governments in the region.
Bigger responsibility
As a business community, we are responsible to the current and future generations to contribute to developing existing and new talent. It is also a business imperative to mitigate against skills gaps that will eventually impact our competitiveness. PwC surveyed the region’s CEOs and found that 70 percent see the unavailability of essential digital skills as a business threat.
For our business, it means acting responsibly by putting in place programmes that promote the need for digital and technology skills and play our part in their development within our community. For this reason, we became a corporate partner to Zayed University to empower national talent by mentoring students on education technology (edtech) projects.
The programme matches students with the mentors and practitioners at Injazat to coach and sandbox ideas that solve real-world industry issues and challenges. Under our mentorship, students will research and evaluate the potential of AI in diagnosing learning difficulties, analyse non-traditional schools from around the world to localise and brainstorm adaptation models, conduct behavioural change studies in parents to boost acceptance towards online learning and explore the use and benefits of AR/VR technology in building interpersonal skills, confidence, and public speaking readiness in students.
By investing in local talent, we’re cultivating local teams capable of building globally competitive tech ventures that will make up a more advanced tech industry. We must live up to this responsibility by empowering future generations as a business community and challenge ourselves to ensure that we are providing opportunities for future generations in the form of skills and work opportunities.
Ensuring a strong skills base and subsequent talent pipeline will help to deliver a strong, stable, and sustainable economy. It is ever more critical as the global economy recovers from the economic shocks caused by Covid-19, and not forgetting the current economic risks posed by rising global inflation.
Promising growth
Business optimism is high in the UAE, and our economy remains resilient, continuing to grow at an impressive rate complemented by advanced infrastructure and supportive legislative and regulatory frameworks. By combining the right business conditions with the right level of government support, through the key strategic focus of further diversifying the economy, the drive to accelerate the nation’s economic development will secure our place as a leading global economy.
The UAE’s public-private collaboration, policy, regulatory and economic approach is fast becoming a model for economic growth and success that others now look to. Technology continues to redefine and reimagine how we live our daily lives. It has a central role in delivering the country’s success by embracing its transformative benefits. As we look to the next 50 years, the adoption of technology in all facets of our life will catapult us yet further to deliver the ambitions of our leadership, our people, and our nation.
The concentration on high technology sectors and high-growth sectors are spurring a technology ecosystem that is thriving in the country. We are seeing the benefits come to life from the UAE’s innovation ecosystem combined with the adoption of technology ranging from the highly innovative fintech sector that is transforming the financial landscape to empower businesses and consumers like never before, through to the digital transformation of the business community that is rapidly underway by upgrading systems and embracing the possibilities provided by the cloud.
Now is the time to invest further and faster in digital transformation so that we can push the boundaries of our ambitions, stretching the possibilities and delivering for our people the broader benefits that this will provide us in our society.