UAE adopts WEF standard for use in smart industry

The UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology will adopt the Smart Industry Readiness Index, the global standard used by the World Economic Forum, which will help companies use Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to boost productivity.

Siri was created by the Singapore Economic Development Board in partnership with leading technology companies, consultancies and industry and academic experts. It covers the three core building blocks of 4IR: process, technology and organisation.

The index is an important component of the UAE’s own Industry 4.0 programme and will serve as a benchmark for companies, equipping them with frameworks to open the door to integration.

The first 70 companies in the UAE’s industrial sector have already been evaluated for the index, said Omar Suwaina Al Suwaidi, undersecretary of the MoIAT. The ministry’s goal is to assess 200 companies by the end of 2022.

“The rewards for success are clear: higher productivity, better product quality, enhanced operational efficiency, reduced energy consumption – all of which can make a substantial contribution to our sustainable development goals,” Mr Al Suwaidi said at the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit in Dubai yesterday.

The UAE’s Industry 4.0 plan, announced in October, aims to boost productivity and the development of innovative products, increase manufacturing by 30 per cent and add Dh25 billion ($6.8bn) to the nation’s economy by 2031.

Among the first to sign up were the departments of economic development of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ajman, UAE multinationals Emirates Global Aluminium and defence conglomerate Edge, and global technology firms Microsoft and Siemens.