New data law to host best coding talents

Terming the new “Data Law” as the “gold standard” to boost UAE’s digital economy, Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, yesterday also unveiled other initiatives to support coding.

“This data law is different from most of the data laws in the world because of so many standards that we are going to implement,” he said. The first-of-its-kind law, strikes a balance by ensuring privacy of individuals and institutions and allowing the private sector to grow, innovate and prosper.

It will give individuals the freedom to control the way their personal information is used, stored and shared.

The minister said the UAE wants to become one of the Silicon Valleys of the world, not just of the Middle East. He added that the plan was to develop and export technology from the UAE and help shape the global future of the digital economy.

“We want to be home of the best talents and we want to ensure that every single day we are catering to individuals that create a digital economy globally from the UAE,” the minister said.

Upskill Emiratis

Al Olama said the UAE plans to build a community of coders and have programmes that will help upskill Emiratis, local talents and female coders.

“We aim to attract one hundred of top coders to the UAE every single day … 365 days of the year, adding 3600 coders every single month ... and adding 30,000 plus coders every year. We are also launching programmes to create a community of coders in the UAE and also ensure that the Emirati and the local talents can be a part of this mission,” Al Olama said.

Female coders will be at the heart of this transformation. Having realised the need to support female coders, Al Olama said there will be upskill programmes for female talents in the UAE.

The minister also announced that PyCon MEA, the world’s leading programming conference, will come to the UAE in the second quarter of 2022

“This initiative is going to bring not just the quality that we want, but the quantity as well,” said Al Olama.