Mubasher: The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is becoming an endorsing factor for economies all over the world and it is currently being seen in various sectors such as real estate, banking, entertainment, healthcare, and the new trend of coworking spaces.
Ian Albert, Regional Director and Head of Research and Valuation at Colliers International MENA, has given key quotes to Mubasher.info and covered a number of questions on the field of 4IR and Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as the UAE’s initiatives to adopt this technology.
Some believe that AI can take over current jobs. In this regard, Ian Albert told Mubasher that “The debate over the impact of 4IR on all economies varies between 10% and 50% of current jobs being partially or completely taken over by some form of AI. Whichever way it is considered, it will have a significant impact on our lives and the physical space we occupy.”
On launching the first Ministry of Artificial Intelligence in the UAE, the Regional Director at Colliers International MENA told Mubasher, “When the Crown Prince of Dubai Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum returned from Davos and announced that Dubai would establish the Emirates Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in the UAE, this built on several other initiatives - some going back many years – the more recent ones include The One Million Arab Coders scheme, organised by the Mohammed bin Rashid Global Initiatives in 2018, and in 2017 the creation of the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence going hand in hand with the UAE Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is expected to have direct impact on the real estate sector. Ian Albert clarified, “So in terms of real estate, what are the physical built environment impacts? Part of 4IR is the sharing economy (initiatives, ideas, and space). We already see this with the growth and rapid expansion of coworking spaces, changing the nature of office space. To attract young programmers and one of the restraints is the cost of living and millennial concepts of life sharing; residential developers such as Emaar and Nshama have already announced plans to build and operate co-living spaces.”
Medical tourism is forecast to be among the sectors adopting the 4IR in the UAE. Head of Research and Valuation at Colliers International MENA highlighted, “One of the UAE’s goals in 4IR is personal and genomic medicine; this will drive further demand for research and medical facilities and support a growing medical tourism industry building on the back of pre-existing healthcare and research initiates.”
Dubai Design District (d3) is an example of benefiting from AI. Ian Albert told Mubasher that “Design and Creativity are seen as sectors that will not only be resistant to but will actually benefit from AI impact and job creation as we see through the success of a project like Dubai Design District.”
Ian Albert, Regional Director and Head of Research and Valuation at Colliers International MENA concluded that “Coding centres and AI all require vast amounts of infrastructure and support from Big Data Analytics – so more workspace and data labs serviced by another 4IR growth sector - autonomous transport something that the UAE and Dubai are already actively involved in.”
(Contributed by Ingy ElSafy)
