UAE’s Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) and EDGE have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish the UAE’s first Industry 4.0 Enablement Centre aimed at promoting, enabling, and supporting the digital transformation and the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies across the country’s manufacturing sector.
The Ministry and EDGE will explore how the Enablement Centre can leverage what has been achieved by the EDGE Learning & Innovation Factory (LIF), a state-of-the-art learning, innovation, and demonstration centre for Industry 4.0, operational excellence, and advanced technology. Its offerings include learning, innovation, and demonstration to the wider industrial ecosystem.
The Ministry had previously launched EDGE LIF, an end-to-end automated and integrated factory that demonstrates digital manufacturing use cases to trainees. Each trainee will be able to participate in a simulation to explore how technology can empower production. In the simulation, trainees use an app to configure a small car, add a tagline, and track its production across the factory’s four islands in less than seven minutes. As per the news, the Smart and Lean Production training at EDGE LIF and is key to the Lean Digital curriculum. Lean Digital teaches how lead-times, quality and cost can be enhanced by the introduction of Industry 4.0 technologies.
EDGE will host a series of initiatives, training courses, and programmes at the facility from September this year with the aim of accelerating technology adoption in the industrial sector, enhancing collaboration within the UAE’s advanced technology ecosystem, and enabling the co-creation and development of innovative solutions among industry players.
The Industry 4.0 Enablement Centre will comprise various activities, including raising awareness around Industry 4.0 technologies and practices, up skilling manufacturers’ capabilities with specialised training curricula, demonstrating 4IR technology benefits, supporting the development of Industry 4.0 strategies, and creating a test bed and an open-access environment to pilot and co-develop innovative technologies.
Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, commented, “Based on the vision of our leadership, the Ministry’s strategy is committed to supporting local manufacturers to adopt advanced technologies and 4IR solutions. Advanced technologies help to enhance efficiency, productivity, safety, and quality while reducing costs, optimising supply chains, and creating jobs. The agreement signed today is of great importance as it encourages technology adoption in the sector and will empower our industrial resilience, increase competitiveness, accelerate economic diversification and nurture a knowledge-based economy supported by advanced technology. Our partnership with EDGE is a testament to MoIAT’s objective to work with local industrial champions to encourage knowledge exchanges. We look forward to the continued upskilling of our national workforce and development of the national R&D ecosystem to achieve the objectives of our strategy.”
“Our MoU with EDGE aims to boost our industrial competitiveness. The establishment of the country’s first Industry 4.0 Enablement Centre is a significant milestone in the sector’s transformation journey. The centre will help to empower industry by supporting companies to adopt advanced technology and upskilling the workforce, thereby boosting productivity and efficiency. Ultimately, the establishment of this centre is in line with the UAE’s Industry 4.0 programme and the objectives of our broader national strategy for industry and advanced technology,” added Sarah bint Yousif Al Amiri, Minister of State for Public Education and Advanced Technology.
