Sheikh Rashid Bin Ahmed Al Maktoum, Chairman of RAM Investment, has announced a partnership with Europe’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) venture studio and ecosystem Merantix to conceptualise the AI City Dubai, a proposed free zone where impactful AI solutions will be pioneered, implemented and scaled.
AI City will be a global AI hub, powered by smart city infrastructure that connects AI research institutions and talent with leading homegrown and global startups, corporations and investors. The project will work closely with universities to attract, train and upskill talent.
By building a free zone, a regulatory sandbox environment will be created that will host world-leading computing infrastructure (HPC Clusters) and data centres, which will allow for rapid stress testing of wide-scale revolutionary and safety-critical AI concepts. It will host innovation labs, research institutes and co-working communities for all stakeholders to connect and collaborate and will be open to the public to raise awareness and show the positive impact of AI.
Merantix is Europe’s leading AI venture studio and ecosystem, incubating and investing in AI-first companies, building solutions and conducting leading AI research through their solutions provider ‘Merantix Momentum’, as well as having built Europe’s largest physical AI community hub, the Merantix AI Campus Berlin.
Co-founder Dr Rasmus Rothe is also a founding board member of the German AI association and has been part of devising and implementing the national AI strategy through an on-going cooperation with regulators in Germany and on a European level regarding the EU Artificial Intelligence Act. By bringing all relevant stakeholders together, Merantix is the best partner for this visionary project. AI City will also strengthen the connection and collaboration on AI between the UAE, Germany and Europe.
Sheikh Rashid said: “AI City will not only be the catalyst for great new products and solutions for global issues built here in Dubai, but it will also be a great place to bring AI closer to our society. With AI City we want to make this technology more accessible, grow the public understanding of Artificial Intelligence, and get more people involved.”
AI City will be a key building block and enabler for the UAE Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031. By replicating the proven model of Dubai’s free zones, this project will accelerate Dubai’s trajectory to become a global leader in AI, and strengthen Dubai as a leading hub for attracting top talent and global investment. AI City will be a crucial lever to stress-test impact-driven AI initiatives and accelerate positive and ethical AI adoption across industries in the UAE and globally, at a time where governments around the world are working on regulatory frameworks to drive AI adoption.
Dr Rasmus Rothe said: “With AI City, we can build a strong bridge from Germany and Europe to the UAE. We need more collaboration to truly drive AI adoption, because only if we get all stakeholders to work together we can bridge the gap between research and practice. I am looking forward to building a global AI lighthouse in Dubai.”
