Strong AI ecosystem built on collaborative efforts with industry

Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) held an appreciation ceremony recently to recognize more than 30 industry partners for their ongoing support and collaboration in cultivating a burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem in Abu Dhabi with pioneering and world-leading applications of AI.

More than 100 industry partners, stakeholders, and educational institutions attended the MBZUAI Stakeholders – Technology Day event including Mubadala Healthcare, Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City Abu Dhabi (SSMC), Accenture, Etihad Airways, Microsoft, Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), and IBM.

Held at the university’s Masdar City campus, participants witnessed high-level panel discussions on AI’s potential in addressing current and future healthcare and sustainability challenges and received major university updates on the latest research and milestones.

MBZUAI’s President and University Professor, Eric Xing, kicked off the event followed by a research overview, where faculty discussed the latest in natural language processing (NLP) and MBZUAI’s role in developing Jais — the world’s largest and most advanced bilingual Arabic and English large language model (LLM) — and Jais Climate – the world’s first bilingual LLM dedicated to climate intelligence – alongside advancements in computer vision, and machine learning.

MBZUAI’s Director of Educational Affairs, Rebecca Rutherford, who moderated the industry panel on strategic advice in AI, said: “The event was the first-of-its-kind and is a culmination of thanking those entities which have supported MBZUAI’s journey during the past four years. It recognized the importance of key industry partners and local educational institutions who have either offered students internship or graduate employment opportunities or were nominated by other MBZUAI departments for their ongoing support in other areas such as research and resource sharing.”

MBZUAI’s Acting Provost, Professor Timothy Baldwin, presented tokens of appreciation to the industry partners. “Partnerships and collaborations between MBZUAI and like-minded organizations have been pivotal in pushing the boundaries of AI in areas promising real-world solutions to major challenges, including chronic disease, education in remote areas, and climate change,” Professor Baldwin said. “It was a pleasure to see so many of our partners under one roof, showcasing our collective achievements and discussing plans for 2024.”

A panel discussion on ‘AI-Powered Health Transformation’, moderated by MBZUAI’s Associate Professor of Computer Vision, Mohammad Yaqub, featured speakers from Mubadala Healthcare/Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD), SSMC, and DoH. The panel explored AI applications in healthcare, including machine learning in ultrasound scan analysis for fetal and heart defects and the use of digital twins for treatment simulation.

This was followed by a panel on ‘Advancing AI Via Industry Collaboration’, chaired by MBZUAI’s Visiting Professor of Computer Science and Advisor, Shih-Hao Hung. The panel featured faculty members discussing collaborative projects including the Malaria No More initiative, and AI-based metaverse solutions for education.

The recently launched MBZUAI Incubation and Entrepreneurship Center (MIEC), aimed at fostering AI startups and developing a diverse ecosystem of homegrown companies and AI solutions, also presented its future roadmap.

This event was hosted by the Provost’s Office, in partnership with the Career Services and Internships team and the Research Office.