Abu Dhabi Ministry of Economy signs agreements with TRA and DED

The Ministry of Economy signed an agreement and a Memorandum of Understanding with two government institutions to sustain its successes and accelerate growth in patent registrations.

The agreement was signed with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, TRA, represented by the ICT Development Fund, ICT-DF, to finance the registration of additional 200 patents in information and communications technology.

The UAE government announced that the team of the ‘Government Accelerators’ programme, composed of the Ministry of Economy, the ICT-DF, the Takamul programme, UAE University and a number of government and private agencies, has exceeded the target that was set at the launch of the initiative.

It was able to increase its applications for patents registration by seven times the levels recorded last year, in just 70 days from the launch of the government accelerators. It also received 27 more requests from independent inventors, universities, private sector companies and government-owned entities.

This achievement is of major significance not only because it exceeded the initial goal of hitting five times last year’s rate over a span of 100 days as set by the accelerators programme, but also because it marks a vital step towards improving the UAE’s position as a regional and global intellectual property hub.

The agreement will address important funding challenges and provide support for innovators who wish to patent their work in the state record, according to the Ministry of Economy.

The MoU was signed with the Department of Economic Development, Abu Dhabi, supporting the Takamul programme to increase the registration of patents in the state.

The programme finances nearly 60 patents a year, which the ministry aims to bring up to 200 applications by providing funding for the programme’s partners.

The two sides agreed to cooperate on spreading more awareness on intellectual property and enhancing communication with inventors and innovators, universities and research centres, and various agencies and institutions to broaden contributions to patent registrations.

The signing ceremony took place at the Government Accelerators in Dubai and was attended by Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, Mohammed Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al-Shehhi, the Ministry’s Under-Secretary for Economic Affairs, Dr. Abdul Qader Ibrahim Khayat, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ICT- DF, Hamad Obaid Al Mansouri, Director-General of TRA,

And Khalifa Bin Salem Al Mansouri, Acting Under-Secretary for the Department of Economic Development - Abu Dhabi, Abdulla Sultan Alfan Alshamsi, Assistant Under-Secretary for Industrial Affairs, Ministry of Economy and Ali Ibrahim Al Hosani, Assistant Under-Secretary for Intellectual Property sector.

Sultan Al Mansouri said that the increase in patent applications in the state to more than 7 times last year represents the practical implementation of the directives of the wise leadership to make innovation a key driver for comprehensive and sustainable development.

He said that new achievement is the result of concerted national efforts by the government teams entrusted with increasing the number of patents registered in the country under the Government Accelerators programme which he said provides an ideal and dynamic platform for government action.

He noted that the accelerators help upgrade performance and expand achievements in support of efforts to achieve government targets and indicators established in the National Agenda for 2021.

Ali Majed Al Mansouri, Head of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, said that the joint cooperation agreement between the DED-Abu Dhabi, the Ministry, and the ICT-DF, will contribute to further encouraging inventors and innovators in the UAE, particularly legal professionals, companies and institutions and their move towards registering their patents and conducting their respective feasibility studies.

Al Shehhi said that the signing of agreements with the TRA’s ICT-DF for the development of the telecommunications sector and with the Takamul Programe under the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, will significantly advance the sustainable development of the field of patents.

Khalifa Bin Salem Al Mansouri, Acting Under-Secretary for the Department of Economic Development - Abu Dhabi, emphasised the importance of his organisation’s agreement with the Ministry in driving the economic agenda of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to achieve a sustainable, balanced, diversified and knowledge-based economy.

Dr. Abdul Qader Ibrahim Khayat, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ICT Development Fund, said, "The fund is a key partner in the government accelerators project, and we are working in coordination with several government entities to quicken the achievement of targets related to information and communications technology in line with the vision of the wise leadership.

We consider enabling young national competencies and urging them to provide creative and innovative ideas a national responsibility and a strategic objective.

Hamad Obaid Al Mansouri, Director-General of the TRA, said that the launching of the government accelerators marked a major milestone in terms of government entities’ approach to implementing their executive plans and achieving targeted achievement rates and national goals in a short span of time.

Abdulla Sultan Alfan Alshamsi, Assistant Under-Secretary for Industrial Affairs at the Ministry of Economy, said that increasing the speed of patent processing within the target framework of the first batch of the Government Accelerating Programme is a leading step towards providing a simulative and attractive environment for innovation and creativity that will positively reflect on raising the rate of patent application registrations in the country.

Dr. Mohammed Al Bili, Director, UAE University, emphasised that the participation of the school with its 14 patents out of the 27 projects within the Government Accelerators programme, effectively contributes to increasing the number of patents registered in the UAE during a short period of time.