Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has signed a multi-year collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to advance artificial intelligence (AI) research, enhance technical skills, and accelerate startup growth across the UAE and the wider region.
The collaboration deepens MBZUAI’s efforts to connect academic research with industry application and supports the UAE’s National Strategy for Higher Education 2030. One of the strategy’s core pillars, the Expanded Professional Experience initiative, calls for greater student exposure to real-world environments through practical training and on-campus projects. This collaboration delivers directly on that objective.
The agreement establishes a Strategic Research Programme to deliver AI research in mutually agreed priority areas. AWS and MBZUAI will establish and manage the programme: AWS will provide cloud services, technical mentorship, and guidance on relevant AWS programmes to support MBZUAI’s research, while also making a registry of public datasets available on AWS. Meanwhile, MBZUAI will contribute its faculty expertise, talent, and laboratory capacity. Under this collaboration, both AWS and MBZUAI will translate research ideas into practical, high impact solutions.
Timothy Baldwin, Provost and Professor of Natural Language Processing, MBZUAI, said: “This collaboration brings together academic depth and industrial scale. By combining MBZUAI’s scientific expertise with AWS’s mentorship, infrastructure, and guidance on relevant AWS programmes that will support MBZUAI’s research, we are building a bridge between research and real-world impact and unlocking transformational opportunities for our faculty, researchers and students. Together we are growing an innovation ecosystem that is human-centred, inclusive, and ready to shape the future.”
The collaboration also supports the launch of GenAI Academy, a new initiative to develop hackathons for MBZUAI undergraduate students focused on solving challenges in government, entrepreneurship, and social impact. In parallel, AWS will make available training resources including instructor-led AWS Classroom Training and self-paced digital training on AWS Skill Builder, to help MBZUAI personnel develop their skills in cloud computing, AI, and machine learning (ML).
Chris Erasmus, General Manager, UAE, Rest of Middle East and North Africa at AWS, commented: “At AWS, we’re proud to collaborate with MBZUAI in empowering the next generation of innovators in the UAE. Blending our cloud technologies and expertise with MBZUAI’s visionary academic and research capabilities, we’re establishing a foundation of technical excellence to support the students and researchers of today and tomorrow. Through our shared commitment, we look forward to advancing technology and creating lasting impact in the region.”
MBZUAI’s Incubation and Entrepreneurship Centre, launched in October 2023, will also benefit from this collaboration. Participating startups who have joined AWS Activate programme may be eligible to receive support through the programme’s offerings including AWS promotional credits, technical support, and business mentorship. This strategic collaboration reinforces MBZUAI’s growing role as a national champion for applied AI. By working across sectors and embedding real-world experience into research and education, the university is contributing directly to the UAE’s long-term goals for digital transformation and innovation-led growth.
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