Abu Dhabi enters global top 20 city hubs at 17th place as Dubai strengthens the UAE’s AI health ecosystem through digital infrastructure, genomics, and platform-based care.
UAE emerges as a rising force in global AI-driven healthcare, biotech and longevity innovation.
The United Arab Emirates has secured 15th place globally in the latest Global AI Competitiveness Index (Part 6), which evaluates countries and cities on their readiness to deploy artificial intelligence in biotechnology, healthcare, and longevity science.
The report, published by Deep Knowledge Group and covering over 8,000 companies and 240 global innovation hubs, places the UAE ahead of countries including India, Australia, Spain, Belgium and Finland—marking it as one of the strongest emerging non-traditional leaders in biomedical AI.
Unlike conventional AI rankings that focus on research output or algorithmic development, this index assesses real-world deployment readiness—including healthcare digitisation, regulatory governance, capital formation, clinical infrastructure, and the ability to convert AI capability into usable medical systems.
Abu Dhabi breaks into global top 20 city hubs
At the city level, Abu Dhabi ranked 17th globally, surpassing established global healthcare and innovation hubs such as Toronto and Seoul.
The report attributes this performance to the emirate’s accelerated progress in:
- Healthcare digitisation
- Governed AI deployment in clinical systems
- Capital formation in life sciences
- Preventive health innovation
Abu Dhabi’s ecosystem is increasingly shaped by large-scale health transformation initiatives and data-driven healthcare infrastructure, positioning it as a platform for AI-enabled clinical services and precision medicine.
Key contributors include health data exchange systems and integrated healthcare platforms, alongside major institutional players driving AI adoption in clinical and population health settings.
Dubai’s role in building a commercial AI-health ecosystem
While Abu Dhabi leads in institutional healthcare transformation, Dubai is highlighted for its commercially active and innovation-driven healthcare ecosystem.
The city’s contribution includes initiatives such as:
- NABIDH, Dubai’s unified health data platform
- Dubai Healthcare City
- Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences
- A strong private healthcare sector supporting medical tourism and digital health services
Together, these elements are positioning Dubai as a testing ground for AI-enabled healthcare delivery, preventive health solutions, and platform-based care models.
The report notes that Dubai’s strength lies in its ability to connect healthcare digitisation with commercial scalability and international patient flows, making it a key driver of the UAE’s broader health-tech competitiveness.
A different model of AI leadership
According to the Index, the UAE’s performance does not follow the traditional model of biomedical leadership seen in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland or China—where dominance is built primarily on long-established research ecosystems.
Instead, the UAE is identified as a platform-driven system, combining:
- Rapid healthcare system transformation
- Digital government infrastructure
- Strong capital formation capacity
- Advanced data governance frameworks
- Emerging clinical-commercial integration
This combination allows faster translation of AI capability into real-world healthcare applications.
“The UAE is building a system where policy, healthcare infrastructure, data systems and capital are increasingly aligned for deployment,” said Dmitry Kaminskiy, General Partner at Deep Knowledge Group and co-author of the Index.
He added that Abu Dhabi is becoming a “platform-building environment for governed biomedical AI deployment,” while Dubai is strengthening the ecosystem through its commercially active healthcare sector.
Healthcare AI: From research to real-world deployment
The report highlights a major shift in how AI competitiveness is defined globally. The focus is moving away from research excellence alone and toward system readiness—whether AI can safely operate within real healthcare environments.
This includes:
- Clinical validation frameworks
- Regulatory oversight and trust systems
- Secure health data access
- Long-term capital formation
- Integration between public and private healthcare systems
In this context, biomedical AI is considered significantly more complex than enterprise AI, as it directly affects patient outcomes, diagnostics, and treatment pathways.
Middle East as a fast-rising health-tech region
The broader Middle East region is described as a strategic growth zone for AI in healthcare and biotech, driven by strong government backing and investment momentum.
However, the Index also notes ongoing structural challenges, particularly around interoperability, cross-system data sharing, and governance alignment.
The UAE stands out within the region for being further ahead in building institutional and infrastructure readiness, giving it a competitive advantage in translating AI investment into operational healthcare systems.
A global shift toward AI-powered healthcare systems
Experts involved in the Index emphasise that the next phase of global AI leadership will depend less on isolated breakthroughs and more on the ability to build integrated healthcare AI ecosystems.
“The future of AI leadership will depend less on isolated research excellence and more on the capacity to operationalize innovation across healthcare systems, governance and capital markets,” said Dr. Patrick Glauner, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and co-author of the report.
As countries race to convert AI potential into healthcare outcomes, the UAE’s position signals a growing shift: competitiveness is no longer defined only by invention, but by execution at system scale.
Access the full report: www.dkv.global/ai-index/part6
