Category: Industry

As part of the Italy Pavilion’s events dedicated to the Expo 2020 Dubai’s Space Week, Italy-headquartered high-technology company Leonardo organised the international conference themed “The Lunar Space Economy: The First Steps Towards an Interplanetary Generation”, on 19th October, 2021.

The main theme of the event was Moon exploration, the next critical step for space agencies around the world and private entrepreneurs. The return to the lunar surface is a crucial factor in developing an interplanetary generation that will protect humanity on Earth and in the future could also be called to guide us towards new places to live in outer space.

Leonardo Chief Executive Officer, Alessandro Profumo highlighted, “Our collective ambitions in space also matter to our own planet and its future. Making interplanetary exploration more sustainable by using lunar resources is one aim. But there is a second goal: to improve our quality of life on Earth.”

Space could offer essential resources that will be scarce or costly to the Earth’s environment. “Think about rare-Earth elements for electronic devices, for example. There are also opportunities to advance science and technology in areas like power generation, energy storage, recycling, and advanced robotics,” Profumo added.

Exploration, mining and recovering technologies and potential solutions for a living habitat on the Moon are some of the themes covered at the event by agencies and institutions, academia, industries and astronauts, who discussed how to create synergies to make the equation 2+2=5 work.

For the great lunar adventure, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, robotics, connectivity, services and operations are needed, all skills that Leonardo Group can make available. Leonardo’s joint venture Thales Alenia Space (Thales 67 percent, Leonardo 33 percent) contributes to the construction of the Lunar Gateway of the NASA Artemis mission. It is building critical systems of Orion, the spacecraft for astronauts. Leonardo’s robotic systems, equipped with advanced algorithms and artificial intelligence, will provide excellent support for the creation of a sustainable “Moon village”.

Robotic arms and drills will help build structures, dig and extract resources from underground. Leonardo holds a leadership role in space robotics, having already developed the drills for the Rosetta missions, ExoMars 2022, and now PROSPECT, for the Luna27 mission, and designing robotic arms for the Mars Sample Return programme. Finally, Telespazio (Leonardo 67 percent, Thales 33 percent) has been selected recently by ESA to study an infrastructure for telecommunications and lunar navigation.

Source: WAM – Emirates News Agency

ENOC – the official integrated energy partner of Expo 2020 Dubai – has reiterated its commitment to advancing Dubai’s Clean Energy Strategy 2050, which is evident in the actions taken to protect future generations.

”Our recent partnership to enhance energy savings across our operations and the savings we recorded from innovative energy efficiency measures implemented across the Group over the last 8 years are a testament to this. These efforts have resulted in reducing our energy consumption by more than 27% since 2013 which is equivalent to 308,000 tons of CO2 reduction,” said Saif Humaid Al Falasi, Group CEO, ENOC, in a statement on World Energy Day.

”We will continue to put sustainability at the heart of our operations and reimagine the future of energy,” he added.

The World Energy Day on 22nd October, an initiative endorsed by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, during the World Energy Forum in Dubai in 2012, aims to raise awareness on the importance of saving natural resources, for sustainability, conservation, climate change, carbon emission reduction, and environmental protection. All these contribute to increasing energy efficiency and sustainability.

Source: WAM – Emirates News Agency

Saeed Al Bahri Salem Al Ameri, Director-General of the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA), met with Kamal R Vaswani, Singaporean Ambassador to the UAE.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed their cooperation in food safety and security, and other issues of mutual concern.

The meeting also addressed ADAFSA’s strategies and priorities related to long-term food security, and global food and agricultural trends, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the major challenges facing food security.

Vaswani commended the efforts of the UAE to address the COVID-19 pandemic and its significant progress in containing the crisis, noting the country’s provision of abundant food supplies during the crisis.

He also highlighted his keenness to cooperate with the UAE, and exchange expertise and ideas, to increase the capacities of the local food industry and diversify food resources.

He then expressed his admiration for the efforts of ADAFSA to achieve food safety and ensure the sustainability of the agricultural sector, noting the cooperation opportunities between ADAFSA and its peers in Singapore are wide and diverse.

Al Ameri said the UAE has successfully addressed COVID-19, most notably in terms of food and medicine supplies, adding ADAFSA operates under the directives of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and noting his monitoring of the authority’s efforts to provide solutions to food issues and ensure the provision of all basic needs through supply chains.

He also lauded the bilateral ties between Singapore and the UAE, expressing his admiration for the “30 by 30,” a Singaporean initiative that aims to produce 30 percent of Singapore’s local needs sustainably by 2030.

The meeting was attended by Moza Al Muhairi, Executive Director of the Strategy and Performance Sector at ADAFSA, several ADAFSA officials.

Source: WAM – Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, The US pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai hosted a panel discussion, “Leveraging International Partnerships in Space Exploration”, attended by a range of specialist companies, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Jacobs Engineering Group.

The speakers discussed ways of enhancing cooperation between countries, governments and private sector companies in space exploration and the importance of such mission in solving the planet’s environmental and climate challenges.

Kuljit Ghata-Aura, President of Boeing Middle East, Turkey and Africa, stressed that, before inking any international partnerships in the space sector, it is essential to understand the nature of the sector.

Dawne Hickton, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Critical Mission Solutions, Jacobs Engineering Group, highlighted the importance of cooperation to encouraging innovation, most notably among youth.

“Space discoveries will help deal with the climate and sustainability issue, which is critical for everyone and require all countries to collaborate to establish an ecosystem for environmental preservation, to reduce carbon emissions. When we launch advanced satellites, we will be able to observe what the planet is undergoing,” she added.

Allen Herbert, General Manager of StarLab Oasis, underscored the need to utilise space technology to solve food security and climate change issues, noting the Middle East and Africa is becoming a world leader in space exploration.

Robert Harward, CEO of Lockheed Martin Middle East, explained the model of cooperation of research universities in the field of space exploration.

“I believe that discussions, such as those taking place at Expo 2020 Dubai, will enable everyone to contribute in their own way,” he said, stressing his desire to see the whole world coming together to establish a comprehensive agreement on space exploration.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, Dubai Chamber recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries Business Confederation (CE-CPLP), which will see the two organisations share knowledge and collaborate in key areas of mutual interest to support the interests of their respective members.

The MoU was signed by Hamad Buamim, President and CEO of Dubai Chamber, and Salimo Abdula, Chairman of the CE-CPLP, on the sidelines of the Global Business Forum Africa 2021, which took place recently at Expo 2020 Dubai.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dubai Chamber and CPLP will align their efforts to support post-pandemic economic recovery, open new markets, jointly organise business and investment events and forums, and promote investment opportunities for both parties.

Dubai Chamber will work closely with CPLP to promote Dubai as an international trade and investment hub for members of the CPLP community who are keen to set up operations in the emirate or who wish to explore the potential of expanding to the Middle East and North Africa region using Dubai as a gateway.

Business Confederation (CE-CPLP), the business confederation represents the CPLP – an international organisation spanning four continents where Portuguese is an official language. Operating as a forum for cooperation, the CPLP encompasses nine states and represents a market of 260 million people, with the 100-member CPLP recognised as CPLP’s economic and business pillar.

“The signing of this MoU will lead to huge opportunities for Dubai-based businesses in markets around the world where Portuguese is spoken. The main objective of CPLP is to increase trade and commerce between its member countries and to facilitate and strengthen relations between business associations and entities with affiliated regions, opening new doors for investors and business stakeholders in the emirate,” Buamim said.

He added that several areas of synergy and potential collaboration opportunities have been identified under the agreement that can support the growth of our members across the regions of Africa, ASEAN and Latin America which are served by Dubai Chamber’s international offices.

Abdula, in turn, said, “We are six countries in Africa, and we want to strengthen cooperation with the Dubai Chamber to bring solutions, for instance on how we can develop the resources we have in Africa and add value to these resources and also to bring infrastructure solutions and enable the full potential of these countries to trade globally. That is our aim, and it is a great opportunity to be able to sign this memorandum of cooperation with the Dubai Chamber.”

Founded in Lisbon, Portugal, on 4th June 2004, CPLP is aimed at the development and cooperation of business within the community of Portuguese speaking countries. CPLP’s mission is to create an investment route within CPLP member countries, encouraging collaboration and partnerships.

The countries that form the CPLP community are Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, Timor Leste, Guinea Bissau and Guinea Equatorial.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, The UAE government has launched “Pioneers of the Digital Economy” initiative, which aims to enhance capabilities of young talents and provide them with the knowledge and expertise needed to develop advanced future technology that will positively influence the UAE’s economy.

The initiative also targets empowering talents to compete for the best job opportunities in global leading companies in the fields of coding and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and develop innovative solutions to challenges, thus promoting future digital economy in the UAE and boosting its global leadership and competitiveness.

The initiative, launched by the National Programme for Artificial Intelligence, provides a platform to enhance partnerships between public and private sectors, talented skills in the field of software and modern technologies, and international technology leaders operating in the UAE. It encourages international leading companies to provide opportunities for talents to promote their active participation in supporting the digital transformation in the UAE and building an advanced digital economy that contributes to enhancing people’s wellbeing and building a better future.

Under “Pioneers of the Digital Economy” initiative and during the 41st edition of GITEX Global 2021, the AI Office announced collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS), to enable talents to compete in the fields of technology and software.

Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Teleworking Applications, stated that the UAE government adopts modern technologies and AI tools for building a sustainable digital economy, in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to provide the best possible solutions and promote the UAE’s global competitiveness.

Al Olama added that forging partnerships and reinforcing cooperation with entities and companies that support global economies help accelerate digital transformation in the UAE and its transition towards a sustainable digital economy. He further noted that launching “Pioneers of the Digital Economy” initiative, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services, is part of the ongoing efforts of the AI Office to enable talents specialised in digitisation and AI technologies to actively engage in promoting the national digital economy.

Isabella Groegor-Cechowicz, Vice President of Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), AWS Worldwide Public Sector, said, “We are pleased to be collaborating with the UAE AI Office to support talent development of UAE nationals as we continue to build a diverse and inclusive workforce at AWS. With the upcoming launch of the AWS data centers in the UAE in the first half of 2022, we are hiring teams across multiple functions to support cloud adoption and to help accelerate the UAE’s digital transformation strategy.”

As part of its cooperation with the AI Office, Amazon Web Services will share a periodic list of job opportunities available at the company’s headquarters in the UAE, while encouraging local talents to apply for these vacancies, thus enhancing their capabilities in various fields of digital economy.

The two parties shall further cooperate to build the capabilities of national talents, enable them to adopt modern technologies, introduce them to the experiences of global tech companies, and provide them with the best opportunities to design innovative solutions and services. This goes in line with the UAE’s ‘Principles of the 50’ focusing on enhancing human capital, achieving digital, technical and scientific excellence, and building the best and most dynamic economy in the world.

Source: Emirates News Agency