Dr. Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, has visited IBM Watson Centre in New York.

During the visit he was briefed on the collaboration efforts between IBM, Future Society of Harvard and the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit to use cognitive computing, also widely known as artificial intelligence, to monitor, simulate, predict and suggest policy recommendations related to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.

Commenting on this novel approach, Dr. Al Zeyoudi said, "The deployment of cognitive computing to measure progress in achieving the UN SDGs is truly innovative. By using this technology, all relevant stakeholders will benefit from having a universal and effective platform to monitor, simulate, predict and suggest policy recommendations that would have significant impact on global prosperity."

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by world leaders at a historic UN summit in September 2015 with a target set on achieving them by 2030 to eradicate poverty, combat inequality, and address the growing threat of climate change. Member countries are responsible for monitoring progress, and driving these goals towards building global prosperity.

Cognitive computing platforms such as IBM Watson can access and analyze a substantial amount of structured and unstructured data that are scattered across multiple databases, as well as social networking sites. This data can be monitored, simulated, and extrapolated to predict impact and support policy makers to make better decisions. IBM is currently working on hundreds of applications to expand Watson in areas such as healthcare, law, education, insurance and finance.

Dr. Al Zeyoudi added, "The United Arab Emirates played a key role in shaping the SDGs, and remains to be one of the very first countries to take concrete steps, locally and internationally, towards its implementation. The United Arab Emirates also set ambitious targets to protect the environment and, from the outset, contributed significantly to limit the impact of climate change by jointly collaborating on the development of policies and programs that transform challenges into opportunities for sustainable development and prosperity, reinforcing sustainability as a key aspect to UAE’s Vision 2021."

Dr. Julia Glidden, General Manager IBM Global Government Industry, said, "The UAE government is among the first governments to utilize cognitive computing to offer significantly enhanced government services to its citizens and residents. Cognitive computing will transform public and private sectors and significantly enhance quality decision making for leaders."

The United Arab Emirates is one of the first countries in the region to have companies invest in cognitive computing. Cognit Technology Solutions was established in 2015 to apply IBM’s Watson in the Middle East and North Africa region, bringing cognitive computing solutions to local industries, and supporting a regional ecosystem of entrepreneurs, application developers, and startups that create Watson applications and services across the region.