Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, Director General, Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) • Interview
ADIO helped to keep Abu Dhabi resilient during the COVID-19 crisis and today helps to extol the virtues of investing in the Emirate.
How did Abu Dhabi fare during the pandemic, and what made it so resilient?
Abu Dhabi takes a glass-half-full approach, and looking at the announcements, policies, and incentives, it has been streamlined, coordinated, and rapid in its response. The Emirate has addressed not only the main issue of health and safety, but also all the subsequent issues emerging from the viral outbreak, including business continuity and private-sector support. Abu Dhabi had a great deal of foresight in managing key programs in economic areas that needed support and focus. Even before COVID-19, the leadership recognized we need to focus on arid climate agriculture, biopharma, and medicine, and the last few months have only accelerated progress in these areas. In my recent conversations with companies, everyone has been impressed by how quickly we reacted and how the clear number-one priority in Abu Dhabi is the people who call Abu Dhabi home. Everything else that is important is downstream of the security, safety, and health of our population. Companies are run by and made up of people, so they look at what we have done and say they would like to explore working with us or being based in Abu Dhabi. In parallel with our emphasis on people, we also prioritize the progress of innovation and technology to create solutions that can benefit those in the region and beyond. While ambitious, Abu Dhabi has the infrastructure and ability to achieve these goals. Businesses and people from all around the world are eager to be a part of that story. There is also government support to ensure everyone is able to benefit from these ambitions. The opportunities are overflowing right now, and the government is pushing for several initiatives to help the private sector and the population of Abu Dhabi.
How do the food security initiative and agtech factor into Abu Dhabi’s plans moving forward, and has the scope or activities of the program been updated in light of COVID-19?
The agtech initiative is a longstanding one in Abu Dhabi that has been a longterm priority for the government. In light of COVID-19, food security has been highlighted in recent months. However, even prior to COVID-19, we have been working on the initiative to provide direct financial and non-financial initiatives to agtech companies. While the supply chain today is heavily dependent on imports, we are focused on shifting at least some of those core agricultural products to be manufactured onshore. Another component is building up and maintaining the presence of international partners while ensuring that they are testing crops that work for us. We have designed our program to ensure that the entities coming and setting up are able to test, localize, scale, and sell their products. A final, critical component is the development of solutions that are locally relevant and globally exportable. We focus not only on the food security element but also on exporting IP and knowledge. We see opportunities for R&D in Abu Dhabi whereby we produce crops and expertise here and then transfer this to sub-Saharan Africa or other regions with similar arid climates. Agriculture is important, and we are starting to see many goods being made in the UAE. This is a testament of our leadership’s priority regarding the development of that sector locally, regionally, and globally.
What are your primary objectives for technological innovation?
Innovation in technology is a priority for us. We are making sure that any company from any sector that is focused on innovation, technology, or R&D is supported. There are some sectors that are especially critical to Abu Dhabi’s economic diversification plans, but every innovative idea or company will be supported. An important thing to keep in mind when looking at these high-growth sectors is that, for some of these clusters, their largest market may be outside of the UAE. However, we still want to make sure we incubate them here and become an exporter of knowledge and technology; supporting growth outside of the UAE is also important.