Articles from Technology Innovation Institute

Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the creator of the globally ranked Falcon series of AI models and security and privacy solutions, as well as AI71, a leading Abu Dhabi AI company delivering tailored enterprise products, are collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to expand access to made-in-the UAE AI models and solutions.

The UAE’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), today unveiled two major AI advancements: Falcon Arabic, the first-ever Arabic language model in the Falcon series - now the best-performing Arabic AI model in the region - and Falcon-H1, a new model that redefines performance and portability through a new architectural design. In the small-to-medium size category of AI models (30 to 70 billion parameters), Falcon-H1 outperforms comparable offerings from Meta's LlaMA and Alibaba's Qwen, enabling real-world AI on everyday devices and in resource-limited settings. The announcement was made during a keynote address by H.E. Faisal Al Bannai, Advisor to the UAE President and Secretary General of ATRC, at the Make it in the Emirates event.

The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL), part of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), in collaboration with the Drone Champions League (DCL), concluded the inaugural A2RL x DCL Autonomous Drone Championship in the Middle East, at ADNEC Marina Hall, Abu Dhabi, UAE. In a major breakthrough for autonomous flight and aerial robotics, Team MavLab’s AI drone outpaced a world-leading human pilot to win the AI vs Human Challenge. The head-to-head duel was the most complex ever staged, featuring finalists from the DCL Falcon Cup—some of the top drone pilots in the world.

The UAE has taken a bold step towards redefining urban transportation with the commencement of air corridor mapping and regulatory framework development for piloted and autonomous air taxis and cargo drones. This transformative initiative marks a major leap forward in the nation’s mission to lead the future of mobility. Through a strategic partnership between the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC) entities—Technology Innovation Institute (TII) and ASPIRE—the UAE is on track to reshape the way people and goods move through urban spaces.

The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), a leading global applied research center under Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), has unveiled Falcon 3, the latest iteration of its open-source large language model (LLM) series. This groundbreaking release sets new performance standards for small LLMs and democratizes access to advanced artificial intelligence by enabling the model to operate efficiently on light infrastructures, including laptops. Falcon 3 introduces superior reasoning and enhanced fine-tuning capabilities, making it a more powerful and usable AI model.

The Open-Source AI Summit Abu Dhabi, hosted by the Technology Innovative Institute (TII), a global applied science research center, has kicked off with critical conversations that will shape the global AI agenda. The summit, taking place at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island today and tomorrow with 300+ in attendance, converges with growing international focus on the pull and push between open- and closed-source AI.

Falcon 40B, the UAE’s first large-scale open-source, 40-billion-parameter AI model launched by Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII) last week, soared to the top spot on Hugging Face’s latest Open Large Language Model (LLM) Leaderboard. Hugging Face, an American company seeking to democratize artificial intelligence through open-source and open science, is considered the world’s definitive independent verifier of AI models.

The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), a leading global scientific research center and the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), today strengthened its growing international influence in the field of artificial intelligence by announcing that "Falcon 40B," the UAE's first large-scale AI model, is now open source for research and commercial use. This pioneering move demonstrates Abu Dhabi's commitment to fostering collaboration across sectors and driving advancements in generative AI.

The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), a leading global research center and the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC) today announced that its Directed Energy Research Center (DERC), will organize the upcoming edition of GLOBALEM, a definitive high power electromagnetic (HPEM) conference.

Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), today announced that its Directed Energy Research Center (DERC) has launched a state-of-the-art facility in Tawazun Industrial Park (TIP), a regional hub for strategic businesses in the safety and security sector offering world-class business infrastructure.

Technology Innovation Institute (TII), a global research center and applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council, today announced the launch of NOOR, the world’s largest Arabic natural language processing (NLP) model to date.

The Secure Systems Research Centre (SSRC) at Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), today announced the launch of its first Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC-V) based drone flight controller that leverages the Centre’s own secure PX4 stack. The flight marks a milestone in SSRC’s path to making RISC-V based UAV systems a reality through this successful testing and validation of the RISC-V + the secure PX4 stack system.

Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), today announced that its Secure Systems Research Centre (SSRC) has partnered with three prestigious universities on secure mesh communications research projects.

Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC) today announced that its Directed Energy Research Centre (DERC) has become the first such entity in the region capable of reproducing the high-altitude electromagnetic pulses (HEMP) generated during nuclear reaction in high altitudes at its electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) labs. The Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Simulator offers critical infrastructures, service providers, and research institutions in the UAE and wider GCC region greater autonomy when it comes to testing - a function that needed to earlier be outsourced abroad.

Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), today announced that its Secure Systems Research Centre (SSRC) is pioneering a first-in-the-region Motion Capture (MOCAP) facility. Outside of the United States, SSRC’s unique MOCAP facility at its Masdar City premises, will enable the testing of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) or drones in an augmented reality (AR) or mixed reality environment.

Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), the overarching advanced technology body in Abu Dhabi responsible for driving research and development for transformative technology outcomes, today announced the appointment of veteran technologist and entrepreneur Dr Ray O. Johnson as Chief Executive Officer. Dr Johnson will work on shaping the strategic direction of the Institute and lead the execution of its growth strategies to achieve operational excellence.

Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), today announced that its Directed Energy Research Centre (DERC) has partnered with Germany’s Ruhr University Bochum and Helmut Schmidt University, France’s University Clermont Auvergne and National University of Colombia, Bogota.

Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), today announced that its Directed Energy Research Centre (DERC) has unveiled its Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) laboratories in Abu Dhabi, housed in a first of its kind facility in the Arab world.

Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), today announced that its Quantum Research Centre (QRC) has developed the first simulation version of 'Qibo', a versatile open-source quantum computing programming framework, in collaboration with researchers from around the world.

Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), today announced that its Secure Systems Research Centre (SSRC) has partnered with Khalifa University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Tampere University and University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI). Secure Systems Research Centre also recently announced that it had partnered with Purdue University.

Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), today announced that its Cryptography Research Centre (CRC) has launched the UAE’s first secure cloud technologies programme which will boost advanced technologies that enhance data privacy and cloud encryption schemes.

Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), today announced the appointment of leading international experts to the Board of Advisors at its Autonomous Robotics Research Centre (ARRC).