Oracle opens innovation hub in Dubai

dubai - It will help drive the implementation of artificial intelligence among the UAE's businesses and public sector

US technology giant Oracle on Sunday announced the opening of an innovation hub in Dubai to drive the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) across the country's businesses, public sector and academia.

Inaugurated by Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, UAE's Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, the company has named the new facility 'Zayed Innovation Hub'.

"The success of strategic government initiatives like Smart Dubai and Expo 2020 is underpinned with emerging digital technologies such as AI driving the creation of an automated infrastructure for the realisation of these projects," said Arun Khehar, senior vice-president - business applications, ECEMEA, Oracle.

The hub has employed more than 400 cloud sales professionals.

Abdul Rahman Al Thehaiban, senior vice-president - Technology, Middle East and Africa, Oracle, said: "Forrester predicts that businesses that use AI, Big Data and the Internet of Things to uncover new business insights will steal $1.2 trillion per annum from their less informed peers by 2020."

He said: "However, making AI easy to adopt is critical - a key challenge for organisations is that they can't afford to wait. The Zayed Innovation Hub will aim to address this challenge by engaging with key UAE audiences by raising their awareness levels, helping drive an innovative approach and also supporting the skills development of the next generation of Emirati leaders."

- waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com