TII, NVIDIA Launch The Middle East’s First AI And Robotics Lab In Abu Dhabi
The TII-NVAITC Joint Lab will serve as a hub for building AI models, robotics platforms, humanoid technologies, and real-time robotic systems.
Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research arm of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), has partnered with California-based tech giant NVIDIA to establish the TII-NVAITC Joint Lab, the region’s first dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics research facility.
In a statement, Dr. Najwa Aaraj, CEO of TII, said, “This collaboration with NVIDIA marks a major step toward building AI-enhanced robotic systems capable of reasoning, adapting, and acting in complex environments. By combining our advanced robotic platforms with powerful AI models and compute, we are accelerating the convergence of perception, control, and language—laying the foundation for a new era of intelligent machines.”
Carlo Ruiz, Vice President - Enterprise Solutions and Operations EMEA at NVIDIA, commented, “The launch of the TII-NVAITC for AI and Robotics marks a new chapter in our global NVAITC network. By working with TII in Abu Dhabi, we are expanding the scope of these centers into robotics for the first time in the Middle East—helping researchers and innovators accelerate breakthroughs that will shape the future of intelligent systems.”
The joint lab was inaugurated during a signing ceremony at TII’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi, with the agreement signed by Dr. Aaraj, CEO of TII, and Marc Domenech, Regional Director, Enterprise– Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META) Region at NVIDIA. Attendees included HE Shahab Abu Shahab, Director General at ATRC, HE Abdulaziz Al Dosari, Executive Director of Support Services at ATRC, John Josephakis, Global VP of Sales and Business Development for HPC/Supercomputing at NVIDIA, and Simon See, Global Head of NVIDIA AI Technology Centre.
As the first of its kind in the Middle East, the lab will focus on developing AI models, robotics platforms, humanoid technologies, and real-time robotic systems. It brings together NVIDIA’s advanced computing platforms and expertise with TII’s research in AI, robotics, autonomous systems, and high-performance computing.
The collaboration will cover large language models such as TII’s Falcon family, robotic learning and control at scale, embodied AI models, humanoid stacks, and hardware integration. The initiative aligns with Abu Dhabi’s strategy to expand its technological capabilities and underscores the UAE’s growing role in the global AI and robotics ecosystem, following the recent US–UAE AI Acceleration Partnership.
