Dubai: The UAE and India on Saturday signed an agreement to spur discussion and explore options for both countries to grow their artificial intelligence economies.

The UAE Minister for Artificial Intelligence and Invest India signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the India-UAE Artificial Intelligence Bridge. The partnership will generate an estimated $20 billion (Dh73.4 billion) in economic benefits during the next decade.

The UAE-India collaboration will seek to evaluate the dynamic nature of innovation and technology by convening a UAE-India AI Working Committee (TWG) between the UAE Ministry for Artificial Intelligence, Invest India and Startup India. The TWG will meet once a year with the mandate to increase investment in AI start-ups and research activities in partnership with the private sector.

Artificial Intelligence can be a catalyst for the creation of innovative applications. It can maximise the efficiency and delivery of government services while also boosting the effectiveness of the private sector.

Omar Sultan Al Olama, UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, said how a country chooses to embrace Artificial Intelligence will have a tremendous impact on a country’s ability to innovate and prosper.

“In the coming years, data and processing will be a catalyst for innovation and business growth and serve as the backbone of more effective and efficient service delivery systems,” he said.

Deepak Bagla, Managing Director and CEO of Invest India, said India’s assets in this field makes the country a strong partner of the UAE.

“India — the world’s fastest expanding market opportunity, with its talent pool of human capital, well acknowledged for innovation — and UAE — a hub of cutting edge technologies — are natural partners in the field of Artificial Intelligence,” Bagla said.

“Artificial Intelligence is going to play a critical role in our lives and this partnership will provide solutions not only for the citizens of India and the UAE but for the entire world,” he added.

The collaboration will broadly focus on three main areas including open engagement, fostering innovative ecosystems, and looking to the future.

Through this partnership, the working committee will monitor the landscape of Artificial Intelligence to identify emerging trends and policy concerns. This will help craft mutually favourable regulatory frameworks and policies without being outpaced by the speed of technological developments.

Creating environments conducive to nurturing stakeholders in this sector is key. AI regulatory sandboxes and the sharing of regulatory expertise to facilitate the entry of Artificial Intelligence start-ups into each other’s jurisdiction will be facilitated. Once the environment is set, the tools will be made available and that will come in the form of sharing data sets to enhance development and innovation of Artificial Intelligence start-ups.

Finally, the partnership will enable both parties to play as catalysts in the development and adoption of breakthrough technologies.