The United Arab Emirates wants to change the perception of the Middle East as an oil region by focusing on technology and startup growth.
The Middle East region brought in more investments in the first half of the year than in the first half of the previous year. According to the country's Ministry of Economy, the U.S. took in almost half of the venture capital received in the Middle East and Africa in 2011.
The minister of artificial intelligence is from the United Arab Emirate. The image is from the United Arab Emirate.
In order to focus on its tech and startup hub goal, the U.S. established the Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park in 2016 to nurture companies in a variety of industries.
The country was going to pour $800 million into a fund to invest in space initiatives, as well as being home to the world's largest vertical farm, according to a report.
The artificial intelligence ministry position was filled by a man who had worked in banking and telecommunications.
H.E. Al Olama talked to me about the country's approach to attracting U.S. VC investment. The highlights are edited for clarity and length.
Is the U.S.'s venture capital presence recent?
The U.S. attracts over 50% of all venture capital investments in the entire region. That is interesting, but when you look at the size of the population, you can see that there is a high concentration of very high-quality talent, as well as an environment that allows for thriving startup and startup companies that don't just get started.
Over a billion dollars was invested into the region in the past year. Do you think that is going to increase this year or is it going to stay the same?
The investments have been more than we anticipated. Out of the $1.73 billion invested in the Middle East in the first half of the year, 37.2% were invested in the U.S. It is significant. January was 2.5 times more than February and March was 1.5 times more than April. It's for the entire region. The global investors are interested in the region. The snowball started rolling a few years back with the startup that we've had and it's actually just getting I believe we're just beginning.
How have you been able to get tech companies to come to the U.S.
One of the perks of being tax free is that the U.S. is one of the top financial centers in the world. There is a lot of money ready to be spent. Because of the transparency of the court system, a lot of investors feel more comfortable investing in a company located in the United Arab Emirates. Private sector legislation is friendly to the government. The environment allows people to thrive because they don't feel marginalized or disadvantaged because of their race or sex. Anyone from anywhere in the world can succeed in this place. The infrastructure is advanced and we have the highest penetration of smartphones in the world.
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A lot of different incentives have been rolled out by the government. What would a person need to know if they moved to the U.S.
We looked at all of the different sectors that are supportive of the startup landscape and tried to put in incentives to make sure that people prefer something up in the U.S. It's very difficult to get a visa in most countries. You can get a permanent residency if you are a talent and work in a digital economy that we are very focused on. The company can be started within a day. There are many different programs that are very appealing.
What was your plan to get the Artificial Intelligence mandate of the U.S. going?
What are we trying to understand? How can we make sure that we deploy artificial intelligence effectively across the country in a way that improves quality of life? Quality of life is one of the main drivers of artificial intelligence. It is not an economic gain. It is difficult to make sure that our policies give us an advantage over other countries when it comes to the negative consequences of using artificial intelligence. How do we make sure we don't get saddled with it if it goes wrong? Our motto was to build a nation that is useful for the current but also for the future.
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The region is known for its human rights violations, so do you think it will be difficult for the U.S. to invest in the country?
The Middle East has a reputation of being a tough neighborhood due to conflicts and failures of governance. There is a multinational community consisting of people from over 195 nationalities living, working, learning and playing in an atmosphere of peace, stability and security.
Supporting startup and venture capital has been important for the region.
If you look at our history, you'll see that the U.S. has always been a country of merchants. The second thing is, we have been very adamant and vocal about our desire to invest in renewable energy and other parts of our economy in order to ensure that we are competitive and similar to advanced and developed countries. We will not be able to compete with other countries that have cheaper labor costs because we are not a large country. If you look at the digital economy and sectors that are emerging right now, because of the advancement of technology, you can get incredible returns from talent that even if they are quite expensive, are able to create output.
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