The United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Middle East's representative oil producer, is preparing to open the "post-oil" era by shifting from oil dependence to a diversified, high value-added economy spanning services, manufacturing, and advanced industries. The intention is to improve the structure of the economy and industry in line with global shifts in demand. ChosunBiz visited Abu Dhabi, at the forefront of the post-oil trend, to see how it is preparing for a future beyond oil. [Editor's note]
Our university is taking a central role as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) transitions to a knowledge-based economy. It means the talent the university nurtures is driving national innovation and contributing to productivity gains across industries.
On the 3rd of last month, at the Khalifa University campus in Abu Dhabi, Provost Mahmoud Al Kutayri described Khalifa University's role this way. Khalifa University was established in 2007 to cultivate advanced research and development personnel to lead future national growth as the UAE prepares for the post-oil era. With Korea, it founded a joint research center with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 2019 and has ties such as doctoral student exchanges with Korea University.
Abu Dhabi is accelerating the development of non-oil industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), biotech, and finance as it prepares for the post-oil era. In this process, nurturing talent is considered as important as attracting corporations and startups. As the vanguard, Khalifa University focuses on cultivating talent in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to support the advanced tech industries Abu Dhabi is fostering as a national strategy. Its colleges are organized into three: the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, the College of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, and the College of Medicine and Health Sciences.
◇ Support from basic research to technology implementation
Backed by full support from the Abu Dhabi government, Khalifa University boasts a world-class education and research environment even by global standards. It has about 3,700 undergraduates and roughly 380 faculty members, meaning only about 10 students per professor. That is low even compared with leading universities worldwide. To recruit top faculty from around the world, Khalifa University operates its own startup fund so they can begin research immediately upon appointment, and it actively invests in state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.
Such investment and support were evident on the ground. The research facilities at Khalifa University we toured that day surpassed those of many specialized institutes. The Khalifa University Center for Autonomous Robotic Systems (KU-CARS), which develops robotic fish swarms, looked as if an ocean had been miniaturized and moved indoors. The tanks reproduced salinity similar to real seawater, and waves could be generated artificially. To develop robotic fish swarms that will be deployed for ocean monitoring, offshore infrastructure inspection, and shipwreck searches, the lab precisely recreated real marine environments.
Research activity is not confined to campus. Through its Doctor of Engineering program, Khalifa University supports students in moving beyond basic research to conduct industry-connected projects that can lead to company formation or product development. It has built partnerships not only with major UAE institutions such as Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), and the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), but also with global corporations including Siemens, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing. Vice President Bayan Sharif of Khalifa University said, "We systematically support the entire process through various programs so students can grow into innovators and entrepreneurs after graduation."
If Khalifa University spans the broader STEM fields, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) is an educational institution focused on cultivating AI talent. In 2023, MBZUAI drew attention by unveiling "Jais," the world's first Arabic-based open-source large language model (LLM), together with G42, the UAE state-owned AI corporation. Marouane Debbabi, a professor in computer engineering at Khalifa University, said, "If MBZUAI is assigned a specialized role in AI, Khalifa University supports industry across the full problem-solving process through an end-to-end approach."
◇ Drawing global talent through policy consistency
The role of linking research capabilities accumulated at universities to real technological innovation and industry outcomes is handled by the Abu Dhabi Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC). Under the Abu Dhabi government, ATRC oversees the R&D strategy and builds an advanced technology research ecosystem through three subsidiaries. Among them, ASPIRE gathers the technical needs of public and public-private institutions and leads a structure that connects to research and development at the Technology Innovation Institute (TII) and commercialization at VentureOne.
ASPIRE identifies the talent needed by UAE public and public-private institutions through global technology competitions and large-scale projects. In an interview with Korean media on the 6th of last month, ASPIRE CEO Stefano Timpano said, "It's important not just to find the right people, but to show directly that we can actually achieve outcomes here that no one else has attempted."
A representative example is the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) held in Nov. last year. A2RL is a league launched in 2023 in which fully autonomous vehicles race simultaneously using AI. "When we first started the project, many were skeptical, saying it was impossible," CEO Stefano said. "But in the process we collaborated with more than 200 researchers from universities around the world, and now the number of people seeking to join ATRC is steadily increasing." When Abu Dhabi demonstrates with concrete cases that it is serious about research and development, talent comes on its own.
Such results rest on Abu Dhabi's unwavering policy environment. Backed by capital from vast oil money, Abu Dhabi has consistently maintained a clear direction to cultivate advanced technology industries and to nurture talent to prepare for the post-oil era. Before joining ASPIRE, CEO Timpano worked in multiple countries, including Milan, Italy; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the global consulting firm Bain & Company, but he emphasized that few places push government policy as consistently as Abu Dhabi.