The UAE has launched a range of long-term residency programs, including 10-year and 5-year visas for investors, students, professionals, and entrepreneurs. A senior official stated at Gitex Global on Monday that attracting talent to the UAE has become significantly simpler compared to a few years ago.

“There are a number of talented people that were given Golden Visa and there are a number of them that became UAE citizens,” Secretary-General of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ARTC) and advisor to the UAE President Faisal Al Bannai said.

“At ARTC, there are 10 research centres and over 1,300 researchers from 70 countries based in the UAE. Combined that with all the other companies in the technology areas like G42 and Edge, all of them are bringing talent to the country,” Al Bannai said.

Al Bannai also stressed that the UAE is moving to the knowledge economy.

“UAE is taking a partnership approach to collaborate with the best players and invest in future technologies. We are also building our own technologies that are sovereign to us and that we control. I think AI is something we can’t miss. We definitely want to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to AI.”

Al Bannai mentioned that in a few years, AI will begin to make decisions on fundamental matters for people, including basic planning, network routing, hospitality tasks, and scheduling appointments.

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“It was not easy to attract talent about four or five years ago. Today, it is much easier because we have an ecosystem and projects that attract talent,” he added.

UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri discussed various topics at Gitex Global, including the macroeconomic outlook and the necessity for talent. He stated that their goal is to raise the non-oil sector’s contribution from 74% to 80% by 2030.