UAE's scientific talent strategy earns praise

Several initiatives collectively reinforce the UAE's target of becoming a hub for advanced scientific research and talent attraction.

- Issac John

Several initiatives collectively reinforce the UAE's target of becoming a hub for advanced scientific research and talent attraction.

The UAE is “setting an impressive regional benchmark in cultivating the next generation of scientific leaders,” a spokesman for the Hong Kong Laureate Forum (HKLF) said.

Describing the UAE’s expanding ecosystem of research training, specialised talent programmes and open-access research facilities as “highly innovative”, he aligned those with the HKLF’s own mission to nurture curiosity, excellence and global collaboration among young scientists.

The spokesman noted that the UAE’s growing network of national talent-development initiatives — including the National R&D Leadership Programme, the Open Labs platform and the Mohammed bin Rashid Academy of Scientists — reflects a national strategy that “recognises the long-term value of scientific leadership and invests in it systematically.”

“What the UAE is doing is very much in the spirit of what the HKLF stands for,” the spokesman said. “Both place young researchers at the centre, give them access to knowledge, mentorship and advanced tools, and create pathways for them to become the innovators, problem-solvers and scientific leaders of the future.”