ABU DHABI, 13th October, 2021 -- The UAE’s Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) today signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with 12 industrial entities – who will form the Champions 4.0 Network – and the Departments of Economic Development of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ajman to kick-start the newly-announced Fourth Industrial Revolution Programme, known as "UAE Industry 4.0".
The MoU signing was witnessed by Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Sarah Bint Yousef Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology and Omar Suwaina Al Suwaidi, Under-Secretary of Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology.
Launched as part of Projects of the 50 earlier this month, "UAE Industry 4.0" is designed to accelerate the integration of 4IR solutions and applications across the UAE’s industrial sector, enhancing the UAE’s overall industrial competitiveness, driving down costs, increasing productivity and efficiency, enhancing quality, improving safety and creating new jobs.
As a key pillar of the UAE’s Operation 300Bn, which aims to increase the contribution of industry to national GDP to AED300 billion in ten years, "UAE Industry 4.0" aims to increase industrial productivity by 30 percent and add AED25 billion to the national GDP.
It will do so through a number of core elements, including the establishment of the Champions 4.0 Network, in which leading local and international companies will unite to share best-practice in the deployment of 4IR technologies across the UAE’s industrial sector. Participating entities include the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), EDGE, Honeywell, Unilever, Ericsson, Schneider Electric, Emirates Global Aluminium, Microsoft, CISCO, SAP, AVEVA and Siemens.
The Champions Network will then support the creation of 100 "lighthouses", or WEF-categorized I4.0 organisations, by 2031, while also cultivating the optimum business environment to establish or attract 500 tech companies by the same year. These anchor companies will help drive productivity, innovation and efficiency in their respective sectors. Another key pillar of the network, is a programme that will identify, assess and then assist 200 companies ripe for Industry 4.0 transformation.
Dr. Sultan Al Jaber said, "In line with our leadership’s vision, the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology focuses on increasing the industrial sector’s contribution to the national GDP, enabling economic diversification and transforming to a knowledge-based economy. The UAE boasts a vibrant industrial sector, one that has made a significant contribution to our rapid economic development. And with the collaboration between our public, private and academic sectors, we have fostered an enabling industrial ecosystem.
"UAE Industry 4.0 will build on these competencies to accelerate the process of economic diversification already underway. The technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution have the potential to strengthen our core industries, develop domestic production capacity, and build new capabilities to meet the needs of the future."
He added, "As the UAE embarks on the next 50 years, UAE Industry 4.0 will be crucial to the nation’s continued competitiveness on the global stage, and its standing as an incubator of pioneering ideas and new industries."
The first-of-its-kind programme in the Middle East will focus on two parallel tracks: building a foundation for technology within existing industries in the UAE and fostering the development of new, technology-intensive industries.
Sarah Al Amiri said, "UAE Industry 4.0 is the cornerstone, and the first step, on which we seek to advance the national industrial sector and enable comprehensive and sustainable economic growth.
"From the onset, UAE Industry 4.0 was designed to build on our existing strengths including the UAE’s I4.0 regulations and agile policy development framework, diverse anchor industries and a world-class ICT infrastructure, while leveraging partnerships from across sectors and industries to capture the promise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
"As such, the inclusive and partner-based programme is designed to create initiatives that raise awareness, encourage knowledge sharing and information, boost talent and skillset development and, importantly, offer incentives and access to financing through relevant entities such as the AED5bn recently allocated by the Emirates Development Bank for advanced technology."
Al Amiri added, "The agreements signed today with our economic development partners in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ajman, will support the promotion of 4IR solutions across the UAE’s industrial sector."
She went on to say, "Alongside our partners from the DEDs, through creating the Champions 4.0 Network we aim to support emerging, small and medium-sized companies in adopting advanced technology. Through a series of activities and workshops our champions will showcase successful uses and best practices of 4IR and play a pivotal role in driving the technological transformation of the national industrial sector."
"Ultimately," Al Amiri concluded, "by onboarding our economic development partners and champions of industry today, we are laying the groundwork to facilitate an enabling industrial ecosystem which can boost the 4IR capabilities that will be critical to the sustainable socio-economic development of our country."
UAE Industry 4.0 has been designed to contribute to UAE’s leadership’s vision outlined in the Principles of the 50 – building the best and most dynamic economy in the world, focusing on human capital, and consolidating the position of the nation as a global hub for digital, technical, and scientific excellence over the next 50 years and beyond.