Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) signed MOUs with Imec, the world’s leading R&D organisation in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, and Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium.

The signing ceremony was attended by Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence and Deputy Managing Director of Dubai Future Foundation, Khalfan Juma Belhoul, CEO, Dubai Future Foundation, Abdulaziz Al Jaziri, Deputy CEO, Dubai Future Foundation, Dr. Jo De Boeck, Chief Strategic Officer and EVP at Imec, and Prof. Dr. Romain Meeusen, Vice Rector at Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. The agreement, signed in AREA 2071 at the Emirates Towers in Dubai, aims to explore opportunities for partnerships around R&D programmes in emerging technologies, and client-commissioned R&D projects in the UAE.

DFF will work closely with Imec and Vrije Universiteit Brussel to explore the creation of best suited formal mechanisms for knowledge exchange, development and transfer in the setting up of R&D facilities and related infrastructure, as well as the managing of R&D programs. Imec is a world-leading research and innovation organisation in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. The combination of their widely acclaimed leadership in microchip technology and profound software and ICT expertise is what makes them unique. By leveraging on their world-class infrastructure and local and global ecosystem of partners across a multitude of industries, they create groundbreaking innovation in application domains such as healthcare, smart cities, and mobility, logistics and manufacturing, energy and education.

Headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, Imec brings together more than 4,000 brilliant minds from over 85 nationalities and has distributed R&D groups at a number of Flemish universities, in the Netherlands, Taiwan, USA, China, and offices in India and Japan. In 2017, Imec’s revenue totaled 546 million euros.