Abu Dhabi : UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Dubai Ruler His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has today launched the Great Arab Minds initiative.
The initiative will be driven by and headquartered at the Museum of the Future, the Emirates’ new global scientific landmark.
Great Arab Minds is the Arab world’s largest movement designed to search for exceptional talents among Arab scientists, thinkers, and innovators across key fields, aiming to highlight and celebrate leading thinkers in the region and inspire young people with their example. I
t will work with regional and global partners to develop and maximise the positive impact of their ideas and work. The five-year initiative will focus on fields including physics and mathematics, software and data science, economics and higher education and research.
The initiative is backed by an AED100 million fund and will be administered from the Museum of the Future, with a committee of four Emirati Ministers who will develop a system to identify and highlight the extraordinary thinkers and talents that the initiative will support.
The fund will support local and global partnerships in fostering research, development and innovation.
In a series of tweets, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid said, “Today we launch a new project to search for 1,000 Great Arab Minds in the fields of physics and mathematics, software and data science, economics and higher education and research. Great minds built Arab civilization – today I believe we have the talent to build a better world.”
He added, “We will accelerate the Emirates’ role as an incubator for fostering Arab and global talent. We built the Museum of the Future as a global hub for scientists, thinkers and innovators – it is the ideal headquarters for a fund to develop the potential of our region’s finest minds.”
The Committee leading Great Arab Minds is chaired by Mohammad Al Gergawi, President of the Museum of the Future, and the membership of Shamma bint Suhail Al Mazrouei, Minister of State for Youth Affairs; Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology and Chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency; and Omar Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications.