Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Launches Dubai Research, Development & Innovation Grant Initiative

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), has endorsed the establishment of the Dubai Research Development & Innovation Grant Initiative. This endeavour is to seek appropriate financing for up to twenty proposed research activities which is anticipated to spur the growth of Dubai business industry’s core economic segments.

Advancing Dubai’s Vision
The Dubai RDI Grant Initiative is one of the projects under the Dubai Research and Development Program which started in September, 2022. The program is centered on the formulation and development of a strong framework for encouraging innovation through R& D in the emirate. The initiative is within the larger vision of making Dubai one of the global cities of the future through provision of support for R&D in areas such as Cognitive Cities, Health and Life sciences and Cross-Cutting Technologies which includes AI and Robotics.

Sheikh Hamdan underlined that these research projects are necessary in order to take a leadership position in certain scientific disciplines in Dubai. He said: “Our goal is to position Dubai as a hub of scientists and researchers from the region and the rest of the world. ”

Key Focus Areas
The initiative will focus on two main sectors: Where Cognitive Cities and Health and Life Sciences thrive by incorporating State of the Art Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Systems. They are Smart Mobility, Traffic Management, Precision Medicine and Robotic Logistics and Health-care. Such initiatives are meant to solve local and global problems and at the same time find new outlets for development for Dubai’s economy.

The hope is to build up the University and research institutions supported by the public-private partnerships to further cement Dubais position as an innovation city.