ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company, has launched the ADQ Growth Lab, a community of innovators spanning its broad portfolio. 

 

The ADQ Growth Lab represents the company’s commitment to innovation and R&D with a direct focus on creating value and sustainable impact across priority sectors of the UAE’s economy.

 

As part of the ADQ Growth Lab, the Abu Dhabi group will be investing AED100 million ($27.2 million) to fund R&D testbed projects and will allocate further funds to fast-track the trial and adoption of AI and automation through innovative proof-of-concepts and pilots.

 

On the new lab, Chief Strategy Officer Louay Abou Chanab said: "It reflects our commitment to investing in R&D and innovation initiatives as part of our strategy to solidify the future resilience of ADQ’s portfolio companies."

 

"By facilitating and fostering collaboration across ADQ’s portfolio and the wider innovation ecosystem, we are confident that ADQ Growth Lab will unlock growth opportunities that can accelerate value creation and further support UAE’s transformation into a knowledge-based economy," stated Abou Chanab.

 

The community, dedicated to innovation and R&D, will foster cross-sector collaboration to facilitate knowledge exchange and strategic partnerships between industry and academia that can leverage research capabilities. 

 

Working with regulators, the ADQ Growth Lab will also promote development of emerging trends across ADQ’s core sector clusters that include energy and utilities; food and agriculture; healthcare and life sciences; and mobility and logistics. 

 

Moreover, ADQ Growth Lab will support partnerships with start-ups, scale-ups and other technology partners to accelerate growth and position ADQ’s portfolio companies for the future, he added.

 

To inaugurate the ADQ Growth Lab, ADQ brought together more than 30 innovation and R&D leads from more than 20 of its portfolio companies for the first time. 

 

These companies explored priorities, themes and opportunities to collaborate on innovation and R&D efforts that can further bolster the UAE’s economic growth and innovation ecosystem.-TradeArabia News Service