UAE Government Plans to Lead in 3D Printing and The Fourth Industrial Revolution Overall

It’s a good thing that Dubai is so over the top, so luxurious, and so full of glamour that we’ll very likely never tire of hearing about the vastly wealthy city state, as well as the plans the UAE has for 3D printing. And their plans are expansive, to say the least.

From their original plan that began unfolding earlier this year, showing almost immediate progress with the 3D printed office building, the world has been watching as their plans have accelerated and evolved, from using 3D printing within their infrastructure to getting ready to use the technology in their hospitals very soon too.

Now, readying further for the much discussed ‘fourth revolution,’ the UAE has announced their plans to keep forging ahead, as well as taking recommendations from those participating in the Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils 2016 which met in Dubai this week as part of the World Economic Forum. This has obviously spurred further organization in the UAE related to using the technology to their benefit.

[Image: WEF]

“There have been a number of ideas and suggestions that came up during the meetings of the Global Future Councils meetings this week. These ideas need to be translated into an action plan to convert into concrete projects that can be implemented. As part of these efforts we have come up with six pillars to convert these into action plans and prepare ourselves for the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, the UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future.

The six pillars are being laid out as so:

1. The UAE will work to create the Fourth Industrial Revolution Council, as a global entity answering to the UAE cabinet. The council will work with the private sector, the governments, the public and private sectors, and civil society.
2. The Global Future Councils will partner with the World Economic Forum in creating a framework that will stretch around the world. Here they foresee creating principles, legislation, and regulation.
3. The UAE and the World Economic Forum will create the Fourth Industrial Revolution Councils as a way of bringing together decision makers everywhere to meet regarding relevant issues.“These councils will study the impact of the implementation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies on the economies and knowledge systems. They will also determine opportunities for implementing these technologies in the main sectors in order to ensure that these will benefit,” Al Gergawi said.
4. They will launch a program to encourage governments to share knowledge and experience. The UAE projects this program will comprise over 5,000 experts from many different areas of both public and private sectors, as well as think tanks.
5. The UAE will also function as the first of its kind as a ‘global laboratory for piloting, experimenting, and implementing’ the technology to be seen at the forefront of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. “These efforts come on the back of the UAE’s commitments to a number of initiatives already taken for the future technologies such as the blockchain, intelligent mobility, 3D printing and artificial intelligence among others,” continued Al Gergawi.
6. The UAE government plans to be the first government in the world to create a ‘framework for the preparedness of governance for the future as part of its National Agenda 2021 in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.’

Details will unfold further in the next weeks, according to Gergawi. The annual meeting ended yesterday, concluding the coming together of 700 ‘thought leaders.’ The ideas brought forth there will most likely be continued at WEF’s Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, in January 2017. Discuss in the UAE forum at 3DPB.com.

[Source: Gulf News]