The United Arab Emirates' Technology Innovation Institute (TII) and chipmaker NVIDIA launched the Middle East's first joint laboratory dedicated to artificial intelligence and robotics in Abu Dhabi on September 22.

The United Arab Emirates is turbocharging its bid to become a global AI powerhouse, pouring billions into world-class supercomputing infrastructure, sovereign-backed investment funds, and international tech partnerships. This AI surge, backed by a national strategy aiming to boost AI’s economic contribution eightfold by 2031, sharpens the shift from oil dependency to a future led by data and algorithms. 

The TII-NVAITC Joint Lab for AI and Robotics was announced during a signing ceremony at TII's headquarters, with the agreement signed by Dr Najwa Aaraj, chief executive of TII, and Marc Domenech, regional director for Enterprise META Region at NVIDIA.

The ceremony took place in the presence of Shahab Abu Shahab, director general at Abu Dhabi's Advanced Technology Research Council, and senior NVIDIA executives.

The collaboration establishes the first NVIDIA AI Technology Centre laboratory in the Middle East, integrating NVIDIA's accelerated computing platforms with TII's research in AI, robotics, autonomous systems and high-performance computing.

The laboratory will focus on developing next-generation AI models, robotics platforms and humanoid technologies across multiple industries.

Dr Aaraj said the partnership represents "a major step toward building AI-enhanced robotic systems capable of reasoning, adapting, and acting in complex environments." She added that combining advanced robotic platforms with AI models would accelerate "the convergence of perception, control, and language."

The laboratory will advance Physical AI through embodied AI models, robotics stacks and hardware designed for real-time robotic systems. Research areas will include robotic learning and control at scale, plus development of large language models including TII's Falcon family of AI models.

Carlo Ruiz, vice president for Enterprise Solutions & Operations EMEA at NVIDIA, described the launch as marking "a new chapter in our global NVAITC network" whilst expanding into robotics for the first time in the Middle East.