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When it comes to delivering on a future vision, the UAE has set the standard in the Middle East. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, has said that industries of the future are central to the UAE government’s efforts to secure sustainable long-term economic growth. This focus on the future and the inherent understanding of the transformations required in the global industrial landscape are fundamental to the philosophy of the National Strategy for Industry and Advanced Technology, known as Operation 300 billion.
The government’s 10-year strategy is the most comprehensive of its kind. It seeks to advance and expand the nation’s vibrant industrial sector and shape it into a key driver of the national economy. The focus will be on enhancing industries where the UAE already has a strong and established presence, and strategic sectors to reduce dependencies on global supply chains, Operation 300 billion zooms in on future industries. Those driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and advance technology adoption, where knowledge and innovation form the foundations of their economic growth.
Space technology, clean energy sources, medical technology, and clean and renewable energy all fall under the microscope of this section of the strategy To achieve its top-line goal of increasing the industrial sector’s GDP contribution to AED300 billion by 2031, these industries of the future will play a critical role while stimulating entrepreneurship, innovation and new avenues of economic productivity.
The UAE is already off to a good start in these sectors. AI has become a characteristic of the UAE’s future-forward direction. The Strategy for AI announced in 2017 and the establishment of the UAE Space Agency in 2014 has done much to facilitate and accelerate the UAE’s status as a global leader of AI solutions. Consequently, the UAE has achieved some historic milestones in the space sector in recent years. Most recently, the arrival of the Hope Probe to the orbit of Mars, under the Emirates Mars Mission, on 9th February 2021, becoming the first satellite from the Arab world to achieve this feat.