UAE launches technology fund for developing nations

The United Arab Emirates on Monday launched a fund to finance the development of sophisticated technology in developing nations.

The fund was launched with capital of $200 million, financed by the Abu Dhabi government, and will be overseen by the Gulf state's Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), the council said.

ATRC Secretary General Faisal Al Bannai said the fund would open up technologies developed by the Gulf state to governments and organisations in poorer nations, and would finance research projects.


"We will have the country become a private client for us to test what they need solved," he said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.

The solution would either be donated to the country or sold to it at an affordable price. "We are funding it, we are taking the risk," Al Bannai said.

The UAE has channelled government funding for economic and social development projects in Africa and Asia through its own development agencies and through foreign aid organisations.