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.
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.
