National Program for Coders: UAE to enhance digital economy, increase start-up investment from Dh1.5 billion to Dh4 billion

The programme aims to train and attract 100,000 programmers and setting up 1,000 digital companies over the next five years. It also aims to increase investment directed to startups from Dh1.5 billion to Dh4 billion.

“The national programme is a new step to help build our national economy as part of our new national plans. The world changes and the speed of digital change doubles…Economy will differ from its today’s model… The nature of professions will change. Only those who are well prepared and faster to cope with the pace of new changes will survive,” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.

Directives

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid issued directives to all government entities in the UAE to support national and international coding talents; work with legislative bodies, business incubators, investment companies, universities and research centers to support coding-based initiatives and projects, whose work leads to promoting the skills of national cadres; and update the legislative laws in a way that keeps pace with the rapid global changes and meets the new technological requirements and challenges.

Supporting national efforts

Under the supervision of the UAE Artificial Intelligence Office, the "National Program for Coders" aims to support national initiatives and future strategies in the UAE, designed for developing the capabilities of national talents, attracting global digital skills, and building the necessary infrastructure to establish broader innovation-based companies.

The program further enables coding entrepreneurs, businessmen and startups to support the digital transformation in various key sectors. It provides opportunities for cooperation with government and private sector entities in the UAE and abroad to implement promising ideas and turn them into comprehensive projects.

5 key strategic pillars

The National Program for Coders strategy focuses on 5 key pillars, namely: supporting coders, entrepreneurs, startups, large companies and the academic sector; developing a comprehensive platform for linking coders with local companies and universities; launching global initiatives supervised by a host of international trainers to enhance the efficiency of local talents; attracting the best International coding cadres to the UAE, and suggesting policies to empower the coding sector in cooperation with various government entities.

Supporting the strategic objectives

Several initiatives will be launched to support the strategy’s outputs, including a comprehensive platform to link coders with the private and academic sectors, supporting businessmen in finding specialized talents to develop innovative projects, granting the golden visa to the best international coders, developing the experiences of Emirati coders to become among the best globally, supporting national startups working in the field of digital economy, and empowering social and humanitarian coding-based projects.

As part of the support provided by the program, it will help various government entities find innovative coding-based solutions in cooperation with prominent coders, independent businesses, local startups and international coding companies. It will also oversee the development of Emirati youth coding skills, in addition to studying and defining local and global market needs and enhancing continuous cooperation with the academic sector.

100,000 golden visas

The National Program for Coding, launched by Sheikh Mohammed, will grant golden visas to the best 100,000 coders worldwide. It will also provide a range of financing options to entrepreneurs and coders, support the implementation of their innovative projects and ideas, and establish digital companies to promote the competitiveness of the national economy worldwide.

Developing innovative solutions to 100 challenges

Within its next phase, the program will invite coders from around the world to find innovative solutions to 100 government, economic, technological, health and services challenges and help accelerate the adoption of modern technologies. The program will also organize 10 hackathons, bringing together top-notch coders to support national efforts in developing an integrated system in the UAE based on the latest technologies.

#UAE_Codes

A comprehensive global campaign will be launched to highlight the UAE’s leading efforts in attracting the best global coding skills. It will shed lights on providing distinguished services and seamless experiences to encourage coders return to the UAE to find jobs and establish startups.

National and global partnerships

To realize the vision of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, achieve the strategic goals of the program, and implement all the related initiatives and projects, the National Program for Coders will hold cooperation partnerships with multiple public, private and academic entities and technology companies in the UAE and abroad, including "Google", "Microsoft", "IBM", "LinkedIn", "Facebook", "Huawei", "Amazon Web Services (AWS)", "Nvidia", "Cisco", "Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)", "Majid Al Futtaim”, “Dubai World Trade Center”, “Emirates NBD”, “Group 42 (G42)”, “Khalifa University”, “Higher Colleges of Technology”, “University of Sharjah”, “Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI)”, “American University in Dubai (AUD)", "Le Wagon" and "Yalla".