MBZUAI and US-UAE Business Council explore AI partnerships in healthcare and beyond

MBZUAI leadership, faculty and staff received delegates from the US-UAE Business Council Trade Mission. MBZUAI President, Professor Eric Xing, addressed the delegation alongside US-UAE Business Council President Danny Sebright.

The two sides discussed a range of issues related to US-UAE partnerships in research and education. In particular, faculty and delegates discussed opportunities for AI research and collaboration in healthcare as delegates from Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Children’s National Hospital were present. Also discussed were personnel exchanges, and the development and hosting of R&D facilities.

“What we need are concrete, and mutually fulfilling agreements,” Xing said. “Concrete because we have very specific ends that we are looking to achieve with our partners. And mutually fulfilling because we need to both deliver on, but also benefit from, the establishment of co-equal partnerships.”

The delegation noted that MBZUAI had a high level of competition in Abu Dhabi and in the greater UAE in the higher education sector. Xing responded that, rather than viewing the success of UAE higher educational institutions as competition, “MBZUAI welcomes the opportunity to take on top graduates from UAE institutions as we are a graduate-only institution with a very specific mission related to AI talent development and innovation.”

MBZUAI faculty members Associate Professor of Machine Learning Martin Takac; Associate Professor of Computer Vision Karthik Nandakumar; Assistant Professor of Computer Vision Mohammad Yaqub; and Assistant Professor of Computer Vision Salman Khan, took part in the meeting to discuss partnerships with industry, funding opportunities with US government agencies, and more.