Month: December 2022

ABU DHABI, President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has sent a congratulatory message to President William Samoei Ruto of Kenya, on the occasion of his country’s Independence Day.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, also sent similar message to Kenyan President.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, Dubai International (DXB) has won the ‘Airport of the Year’ award at the Aviation Business Awards 2022.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports received the award at a ceremony held in Dubai recently.

DXB was chosen as the winner in the category based on its “unrivalled performance” over the past 12 months.

The airport welcomed 28 million passengers in the first half of 2022, nearly three times the volume during the same period last year, while not only maintaining but enhancing its service quality and ensuring a seamless travel experience for guests across all its touch points.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, DMCC – the world’s flagship free zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise – has announced the launch of the DMCC Gaming Centre in support of the increasingly growing global and regional video games industry. Currently standing at US$1.8 billion, revenues generated by the gaming industry in the MENA region are expected to reach US$5 billion by 2025.

Launched during the Dubai Esports Festival, the DMCC Gaming Centre formalises DMCC’s efforts in the gaming and esports space, creating a supportive environment in which all gaming and esports companies can thrive. DMCC is currently home to over 50 gaming companies, from game developers and producers to esports teams and tournament organisers.

The DMCC Gaming Centre will be based in DMCC’s award-winning free zone, providing unparalleled access to a vibrant community of gaming industry peers to unlock new opportunities for collaboration. Gaming companies looking to expand their global reach and connect with audiences across the world will also benefit from DMCC’s fully digital setup process, world-class infrastructure, and commitment to increasing the ease of doing business.

Under the DMCC Gaming Centre, members will have access to the wider esports community through regular events and esports tournaments and industry support from DMCC’s ecosystem partner YaLLa Esports, a leading esports organisation in the UAE. Furthermore, members will have the opportunity to join gaming specific acceleration and market entry programmes through our ecosystem partner, AstroLabs, a leading tech ecosystem builder in the MENA region.

Earlier this year, DMCC partnered with the global VC firm Brinc to provide members with access to $150 million in funding through their accelerator programmes ZK Advancer and The Sandbox Metaverse. Those programmes will also be open to DMCC Gaming Centre members developing games on blockchain and web3 technologies.

“Gaming is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, with nearly 3.2 billion people playing and spending a combined total of US$196.8 billion in 2022. The size and growth of the industry today is staggering compared to when video games first appeared in the 1970s,” said Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DMCC. “These passionate communities are constantly looking for greater immersion and storytelling in their chosen form of entertainment. As our roster of gaming companies expands rapidly and as we see more of our DMCC Crypto Centre members enter the blockchain gaming space, there is no better time to formalise our efforts by opening the DMCC Gaming Centre. Through this facility, we will solidify Dubai’s position as a global hub for all forms of gaming and esports.”

Gaming has become the most popular form of digital entertainment across the world, with rich storytelling and greater immersion than other forms of content. DMCC’s research shows that eight out of 10 Gen Zs and millennials are gamers, and that gamers between the ages of 25 and 40 spend as much as seven hours gaming each week.

Esports is also a rapidly growing industry, with 68 percent of the online population watching gaming-related content and 10 percent being esports enthusiasts. Esports has grown to become watched more than many traditional sports leagues such as the NBA and MLB.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Media Council, highlighted the importance of government communication and its role in supporting the objectives of Dubai and the UAE’s ambitious development. H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed noted that communications play a critical role in conveying the UAE and Dubai’s success and accomplishments to the world, helping realise the leadership’s vision to achieve excellence and lead various international indices.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed’s remarks came as he met with the first 100 graduates that were part of the first cohort of the DXB500 Government Communication Training Programme, an initiative launched by the Dubai Media Council to train 500 public sector communications officials in the next five years in partnership with leading global education and learning institutions.

The programme’s first edition, which trained 100 government communications employees, was conducted over two months and focused on equipping participants with the most effective communication tools, including editing and social media.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed said the Council is keen to add value to Dubai’s media ecosystem, including government media and strategic communication, in order to highlight Dubai and the UAE’s accomplishments and ambitions. His Highness called upon employees of the Dubai government entities’ corporate communication departments to continue refining their skills and upgrading their knowledge as they are responsible for sharing Dubai and the UAE’s messages with the world.

H.H. expressed his appreciation for the role of government communication specialists. “Dubai’s government communication professionals are the UAE’s ambassadors. They must master the latest techniques and keep themselves abreast of the country’s accomplishments to convey them to the world and, at the same time, keep pace with UAE’s aspirations to lead the future,” His Highness said. “This task requires awareness of the various aspects of Dubai and the UAE’s sustainable development journey. It requires the professionals to convey Dubai and the UAE’s message to the world,” H.H. noted.

Mona Al Marri, Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of the Dubai Media Council, said: “Communication is one of the fastest growing sectors given the rapid evolution and introduction of new technologies, tools and media platforms. Government communication professionals and practitioners must keep abreast of the latest developments and gain proficiency in using the tools through quality training to efficiently deliver their messages and support the strategic objectives of their entity. Creating compelling content and the ability to clearly and swiftly deliver it to the target audience is a key requirement of the modern workplace.”

As part of the programme’s first edition, the initial cohort of 100 UAE national communications officers from Dubai’s government and semi-government entities were offered a Content Creator Mastercourse focusing on social media content creation. The Mastercourse focused on upskilling participants in the art and science of creating and marketing short-form content on diverse social media platforms, including YouTube, TikTok and Instagram Reels. Delivered using a hybrid model that features a mix of physical and virtual classes, the programme provided one month of intensive hands-on training followed by another month of mentorship.

Alia Al Theeb, Director, Strategic Media Affairs Department, Government of Dubai Media Office (GDMO), said: “The DXB500 Government Communication Training Programme seeks to raise the competencies of communications officers of government and semi-government entities in developing engaging content on diverse social media platforms. Social media has become the medium of choice of both the audience and content creators as it allows quick and clear delivery of the message. Therefore, the DXB500 Government Communication Training Programme aims to enable participants to understand global best practices and innovative approaches in social media content creation.”

She added that the Government of Dubai Media Office is implementing the programme in partnership with several leading global education and learning institutions to enable participants to gain a deeper understanding of global best practices and innovative approaches in social media content creation.

Participants of the programme expressed their gratitude to His Highness for his support and encouragement. They expressed their appreciation of the efforts of the GDMO’s team to make this programme a success and deliver its objectives.

Source: Emirates News Agency

ABU DHABI, The UAE has officially embarked on its much anticipated lunar mission, making it the first-ever Arab country to reach this milestone. The Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre’s (MBRSC’s) lunar rover, Rashid, has launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, through ispace’s Hakuto-R lander as part of its program HAKUTO-R MISSION 1, with the journey to the moon estimated to take about four months.

Built by Emirati engineers and named in honour of Dubai’s late ruler Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Rashid aims to study various aspects of the lunar’s surface.

Several institutions in the UAE and across the globe have contributed to the mission. New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) was a key contributor to the mission by participating in the development of the rover’s instruments and the relevant data processing procedures, measuring critical properties of the rover, as well as supporting the landing site selection. Representatives from NYUAD include Lecturer of Physics Milan Bogosavljevic, Research Scientist at the Center for Astro, Particle, and Planetary Physics (CAP3) Mohamad Ali-Dib, Professor of Physics and Principal Investigator at CAP3 Francesco Arneodo, undergraduate student Sebastian Kalos, Postdoctoral Associate Laura Manenti, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering Kemal Celik, Research Scientist Rotana Hay, Research Assistant Bo Peng, Senior Lecturer of Engineering Design Matthew Karau, and CITIES Research Fellow Vince Nguyen.

NYUAD Dean of Science Marta Losada commented, “It is a great honour for NYU Abu Dhabi to be a part of one of the UAE’s biggest space-related endeavours to date. Our talented team of faculty, researchers, and students have been working tirelessly in partnership with MBRSC and other key players in the region and worldwide to help turn this vision into a reality. Congratulations to our scientists and engineers on this incredible achievement; we look forward to collaborating on many other national innovations of this scale.”

Rashid, which is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies such as optical wide-field cameras, advanced mobility and communication systems, and being powered using solar panels, also carries a set of scientific instruments which enables it to investigate the lunar surface processes in unprecedented detail.

Much of NYUAD’s responsibilities had begun during the development and manufacturing phases of the scientific instruments. Those comprised the design and calibration of the light-emitting diode (LED) used by the rover’s microscopic camera (CAM-M), as well as the calibration and scientific performance analyses to ensure the camera’s functionality, which is intended to deliver the highest resolution in-situ images of the lunar surface to date.

The rover also carries a set of Langmuir probes (LNG), which aim to measure the electron sheath above the lunar surface. To do so, the effect of the rover’s own surface materials on this lunar sheath needs to be well understood. NYUAD researchers conducted detailed measurements of these photo-electric properties of the various materials being used on the rover surfaces.

Furthermore, the team assisted in leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to map the craters and boulders (rocks on the moon) on the candidate landing sites for the HAKUTO-R lander, helping assess the safety of the site and possible paths the rover will take on the lunar surface.

NYUAD’s civil engineering team have been working on the development of a lunar simulant material with locally available minerals. This material mimics lunar soil and thus is crucial for the development and testing of future lunar missions.

“Our work does not stop here. When Rashid rover is safely deployed to the lunar surface, our science team will be supporting the control room in Dubai by analysing the rover data as it is received. The rover is expected to be functional on the surface of the Moon for only 14 days, so this will be a very busy time. Once the activities on the surface conclude, we will continue to contribute to the in-depth analysis of the imagery and other sensor data taken over the full course of the mission,” said Bogosavljevic.

Source: Emirates News Agency