Day: November 30, 2021

ABU DHABI, Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) to collaborate in a series of mutually beneficial programmes dedicated to nurturing tech start-ups. Founders will benefit from direct access to HPE’s experts, mentorship and opportunities to further develop technologies in collaboration with the global edge-to-cloud company.

Signed by Badr Al Olama, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Hub71 and Ahmad Alkhallafi, Managing Director for UAE at HPE, the collaboration will enable an innovation acceleration ecosystem with real market demand, processes, and technologies – such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and High Performance Computing (HPC). Participating start-ups can leverage the HPE Digital Life Garage, allowing them to test or develop certain prototypes or solutions that are demanded by customers and run events to demonstrate these solutions.

Al Olama commented, “Partnering with HPE will enable Hub71 start-ups to incorporate domain expertise to deliver cutting-edge solutions to the market. Importantly, founders can collaborate with HPE through our programmes and Community Centre of Excellence that will provide founders with the expert knowledge and access necessary to innovate and increase their commercial viability. Attracting HPE as a strategic partner elevates our value proposition and we look forward to creating impact together for our start up community.”

HPE will participate in the next edition of The Outliers, Hub71’s annual partner challenge programme, in partnership with corporate and government partners designed to address industry challenges. Through the new partnership, HPE will set challenges for founders worldwide to solve, with the winning start-up gaining the potential to secure funding from Hub71 to develop the Proof of Concept (POCs) selected by HPE. Successful start-ups will get shortlisted to benefit from Hub71’s broad range of flexible incentives dedicated to easing the growth phase of the start-up journey.

HPE will collaborate with Hub71 to support early-stage founders from Hub71’s venture builder programme, Venture’s lab, with insights on market needs and demands to align their business strategies and product growth management.

Alkhallafi said, “We are proud to partner with Hub71 to nurture tech startups in the UAE and look forward to participating in their latest programme to address industry challenges – a goal that is perfectly aligned with our purpose to advance the way people live and work. The HPE Digital Life Garage will play a key role in providing the startups with access to cutting-edge technology, digital innovation expertise and tools they require to accelerate their innovation agendas.”

Source: Emirates News Agency

SHARJAH, Bodour Al Qasimi, President of the International Publishers Association (IPA), has urged publishers, technology suppliers and other stakeholders in the book publishing supply chain to forge deeper ties to drive innovation and address the emerging challenges as content moves across different platforms and new business models evolve.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Thessaloniki Book Fair in Greece, Al Qasimi said that increased collaboration and more purposeful diverse dialogue would create a robust industry enabling publishers to actively embrace disruptions. The newly launched International Sustainable Publishing and Industry Resilience (InSPIRe) Charter will enhance greater cohesion amongst publishers and play a pivotal role in identifying the existing gaps and opportunities, Al Qasimi confirmed.

The IPA is committed to building a publishing industry fit for the future which envisages forging deep connections with readers and understanding how they consume content and will extend support to all publishers and markets struggling to adapt to the fast pace of change, she added.

The publishing industry which plants the seeds of ideas affects everyone and everything, everywhere, stated the IPA President, adding that the success of a single publisher equals the success of all publishers. To support all members of the publishing fraternity and to bridge the digitisation gap, she announced that the upcoming IPA Academy – a centralised global training resource, would upskill and drive digital transformations across the sector through multilingual masterclasses.

In her keynote address at the fair’s Professional Publishers Programme, the IPA President commended its focus on translations which, she said, can play a key role in boosting global collaboration between publishers and within the larger publishing ecosystem.

The translation is a dynamic door opener, not just for business as professional publishers, but also for readers who are continuously seeking greater original content, said Bodour Al Qasimi, reinforcing IPA’s commitment to supporting translation endeavours as publishers look for new pathways to build up their resilience and continue to deliver books to readers.

On the sidelines of the Thessaloniki Book Fair, Bodour Al Qasimi also met with members of the Association of Greek Publishers and Booksellers, to share views and ideas about current publishing industry trends and discuss opportunities to work together to shape the future of book publishing.

The IPA president’s meeting with the Association of Greek Publishers and Booksellers follows a series of meetings she has held this year with publishers’ associations in UAE, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Georgia.

Source: Emirates News Agency

ABU DHABI, Lt. General Hamad Mohammed Thani Al Rumaithi, Chief of Staff of the UAE Armed Forces, stressed that Commemoration Day promotes noble human values, noting that the UAE’s martyrs sacrificed their lives for righteousness and helped people in need.

In a statement to the “Nation Shield” magazine on Commemoration Day, he said, “The occasion is a day for sacrifice, cohesion, patriotism and loyalty for the UAE’s leadership, underscoring the strength of our unity and the profound solidarity of our people.”

Following is the full text of his statement on the occasion:

“Today, the UAE’s leadership and people celebrate a most sacred and precious national occasion, Commemoration Day, which is observed on 30th November of every year. On this day, our people are honouring the sacrifices of the martyrs who have given their lives to defend the UAE.

Commemoration Day is dedicated to promoting noble human values like sacrificing our lives, helping people in need and showing solidarity with our kin, underscoring the noble actions of Emirati martyrs. It is also a day on which we salute and show our gratitude to the families of martyrs, confirming that their great sacrifices will resonate in our memories. These martyrs have become role models of courage and patriotism while defending the safety and stability of the country.

Martyrs and their families deserve our appreciation, gratitude, love and loyalty. The UAE leadership has set an example in recognising the great sacrifices of martyrs by supporting their families. Therefore, we all follow through the country’s leadership and commemorate, on this immortal day, the sacrifices and giving of the nation’s martyrs.

Commemoration Day is a day for sacrifice, cohesion, loyalty, patriotism and dedication for the wise leadership. It underscores the strength of our unity, the solidarity of our people and their cohesion in supporting the country’s leadership, which has exerted all efforts to serve the nation. Commemoration Day is the day of national sacrifices and a day to teach new generations principles and human values.

Our valiant martyrs have written, with their blood, an honourable chapter in the history of our precious nation, and their memory will be the beacon for us and generations to come, as they inspire us with their determination, national will, honesty and loyalty. Commemoration Day will remain a precious national occasion to honour our martyrs.

Our prayers go to the UAE’s martyrs, praying to Allah Almighty to grant them mercy and their families’ patience and serenity, as well as bless our leadership and people and keep the country safe and stable.”

Source: Emirates News Agency

ABU DHABI, The Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC) has revealed new figures and statistical data, taken from its new report to be published soon, that track the UAE’s progress over the past 50 years in key sectors, including population, healthcare, education, infrastructure, women, labour, food and water security, and telecommunication.

The FCSC report sheds light on the UAE’s comprehensive development process and its achievements, marking the country’s Golden Jubilee.

Population:

The UAE’s population stood at 9,282,410 in 2020, including 97,572 newborns, compared to 19,798 newborns in 1975.

Healthcare:

The number of hospitals in the UAE grew by 981 percent, between the year 1975, when it had only 16 hospitals (15 public and 1 private), and the year 2020 where the number stood at 173 hospitals (56 public and 117 private). The number of caregivers including physicians, dentists and nurses grew tremendously as well, rising from 2,359 in 1985 to 26,106 in 2020.

Education:

According to the report, in 1975, the UAE had 227 schools, which grew to 2,670 by 2020, at a growth rate of 1,076 percent. The number of higher education institutions in the UAE today is at 134.

The number of school students also grew by 2,090 percent, from 61,803 pupils in 1975 to 1,353,501 pupils in 2019/2020 school year. The number of students at higher education institutions stood at 295,957 (including 161,368 males and 134,589 females), meanwhile the number of fresh graduates was at 52,320 (27,620 males and 24,700 females). The number of of schoolteachers increased from 5,530 in 1975 to 108,020 in 2020, an growth of 1,853 percent.

Infrastructure:

In 2020, the length of paved and unpaved roads across the country was estimated at 83,476 km. Furthermore, the number of commercial seaports stood at 12 (excluding those handling oil tankers), and the number of berths stood at 310 with a total loading capacity of 80 million tonnes. Seaports in the UAE handle around 60 percent of containers and goods that are exported to the GCC. Around 20,000 companies and institutions operate in the UAE, making it the largest sea hub in the region.

Women:

Women account for 50 percent of the members in the UAE’s Federal National Council, 60 percent of the members in the Emirates Youth Council and the Local Youth Councils, and 24 percent of the members in the board of directors of federal and local authorities.

Women represent 50 percent of all pupils in KG1 till Grade 12; 45.5 percent of all higher education students and 47 percent of fresh graduates.

Labour:

The number of people working in the UAE grew to 6,886,484 in 2020, up from 288,000 in 1975. The total number comprises 4,792,972 people working in the private sector in 2020, up from 160,670 in 1975. Women represented 24 percent of the total workforce, while those with bachelor’s degrees stood at 33.8 percent of the total number.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the UAE has created around 100,000 new jobs in the retail trade sector in 2020, in addition to 148,000 jobs in the finance, IT and telecommunication sectors.

Food and water security:

According to the report, the number of livestock (including cattle, sheep, goats, camels) in the UAE grew from 327,000 in 1976 to 5.1 million in 2020.

The volume of agricultural production (including crops, fruits and vegetables) also witnessed tremendous growth reaching 1.2 million tonnes in 2020, up from 103,000 tonnes in 1977. The value of the production stood at AED4.1 billion in 2020, up by 2,555 percent from 1977 when it was at AED154 million.

Telecommunication:

The number of subscriptions to the landline stood at around 2,380,000 in 2020, up from 26,200 lines in 1975. Mobile phone subscriptions grew from 13,711 in 1987 to 18,374,332 in 2020, meanwhile internet subscriptions grew from 1.2 million in 2008 to over 3.2 million in 2020.

Source: Emirates News Agency

ABU DHABI, The UAE has risen to the top of Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking, proving once more its mettle in ensuring the safety of its residents and managing crises.

In an article published today, Bloomberg noted that the UAE outperformed Europe in terms of containing the pandemic, naming it as the best place to be with the emergence of the Omicron variant.

The article went on to describe the UAE as “one of the most-consistent performers”, with daily cases staying below a hundred a day since mid-October, deaths being rare and the vaccination rate reaching over 200 doses per 100 people.

The COVID Resilience Ranking is a monthly snapshot of where the virus is being handled most effectively with the least social and economic upheaval.

Source: Emirates News Agency