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Microsoft today held its first ‘Imagining the Future: Microsoft AI Virtual Summit’ to address how technologies like AI will play an important role to enable governments, businesses and communities navigate through unprecedented times, and build the new normal.

The event, attended by over 450 individuals, brought together industry leaders from Finance, Healthcare and Retail to share their experiences in a series of panel discussions and highlight the power of AI in ensuring business continuity and its profound impact on organizations and communities. The summit also shared insights on how key sectors of the country can harness intelligent technology to drive massive disruption with greater agility and efficiencies.

“There’s probably never been a better time to put technology into action. AI can be at the heart of empowering businesses and industries to better respond and recover from challenging times and pave a way forward into the new normal.” said Ihsan Anabtawi, Chief Operating and Marketing Officer, Microsoft UAE. ”We are committed to making AI more accessible and to its advancement driven by ethical principles that put people first, which will support driving meaningful co-innovation with organizations in the UAE to address pressing business, government, education, civic, social and health needs and challenges.”

The AI Virtual Summit also delved into various topics around how technology is advancing health and medical services, enabling Retail and FSI Industries, and how can leaders and organizations adapt to become future ready, in line with an approach to a more responsible, inclusive, and trusted AI.

The panellists included Dr. Hamed Ali Al-Hashemi, Director of Strategy, Department of Health (Abu Dhabi); Micheal Caselberg, Head of Portfolio Management Office, Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank; Gurmeet Singh, Group Chief Digital Officer, Al-Futtaim.

The event also had a series of other presentations hosted by Dawid Detko, Data & AI Digital Advisor at Predica; and Dr. Scott Nowson, Artificial Intelligence Lead at PwC Middle East, and Swati Vats, Sales and Business Development, Bosch discussed solutions around the Retail, FSI and healthcare sector respectively.

According to a study commissioned by Microsoft, the UAE has invested US$2.15 billion in AI over the past decade, and 94% of companies in the country report involvement in AI at executive management level – the highest percentage of any surveyed country across Middle East and Africa.

In response to the growing demand for its intelligent cloud and AI solutions, Microsoft has two cloud regions in the UAE that exclusively serve its Middle East customers. These facilities – one in Abu Dhabi and one in Dubai are enabling organizations in the region to avail enterprise grade reliability and performance, combined data residency, security, and the broadest compliance standards.