‘NextGen Talent’ guides UAE students to acquire critical industry skills

The Ministry of Economy hosted ‘NextGen Talent’, a first-of-its-kind virtual forum designed to help UAE-based students acquire the skills critical for the industries of the future.

The event attracted more than 5,000 students from across the country, who gained a range of expertise and insights on thriving in an evolving digital landscape from leading global technology players.

NextGen Talent is an initiative from the Ministry of Economy in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, and overseen by Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade and Minister in charge of Talent Attraction and Retention.

The event aimed to empower and prepare future leaders in the technology sector by offering world-class skills guidance in the fields of advanced technology and the industries of the future. The initiative aligns with the Ministry of Economy’s efforts to accelerate economic diversification as set down in the Principles of the 50 in September last year.

Dr. Ahmad Belhoul, Minister of Education, delivered a keynote address to the students on why initiatives such as NextGen Talent confirm the UAE’s ongoing commitment to the nation’s youth, and praised the UAE’s educational institutions for implementing steps to promote digitally-driven courses such as artificial intelligence, computer science and engineering.

The NextGen Talent forum, which was sponsored by leading fintech platforms Capital.com and Currency.com, welcomed senior executives from META, Oracle, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Stripe, VMWare, Finclusive, FinCEN, SureStart, Hedera, FourthBrain, APCO Worldwide, Verse Estates, Espresso Systems and the Crypto Council for Innovation, who offered advice on improving advanced technology skills to help stand out in a competitive job market.

Moderators included editor-in-chief of The National, Mina Al-Oraibi, former CNN anchor and host Maggie Lake, and University of Wollongong in Dubai Director of Computer Science and Information Technology Programmes, Dr. May El Barachi.

Dr. Al Zeyoudi opened the forum by highlighting the need to harness the limitless talent and passion of the UAE’s brightest young minds.

“We understand the potential of technology to drive an exciting new era of growth for the country, where the tools of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will reshape our economy and transform the UAE into a global hub for innovation,”

he said.

“But we also recognise that this vision requires motivated, highly skilled, homegrown talent. NextGen Talent is an important bridge connecting the world of academia and the world of work, and the insights shared by some of the leading lights of the local, regional and international technology sector will help inspire our students to go on and contribute to our industrial transformation journey.”

This was followed by an address from the founder of Capital.com and Currency.com, Viktor Prokopenya, who stressed the importance of empowering the UAE’s talent pool with the skills to navigate the abstract world of the knowledge economy.

Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle, one of the companies participating in the event, noted that the next generation is probably the most important renewable asset companies have, and hiring, educating and training those coming out of college has always been a critical piece of the company’s strategy.

NextGen Talent followed the July launch of the Ministry of Economy’s landmark NextGenFDI programme, which is designed to attract digitally-empowered companies to the UAE. NextGen Talent and NextGenFDI will complement each other, with companies from the NextGenFDI initiative supporting the transfer of knowledge, technology and skillsets to the next generation of youth in the UAE.

News Source: Emirates News Agency