Press Release | December 17, 2025
Abu Dhabi, UAE – 17 December 2025: Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has signed a multi-year collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to advance artificial intelligence (AI) research, enhance technical skills development, and accelerate startup growth across the UAE and the wider region.
The collaboration strengthens MBZUAI’s mission to bridge academic research with industry applications and supports the UAE’s National Strategy for Higher Education 2030. A key pillar of this strategy, the Expanded Professional Experience initiative, promotes practical exposure for students through on-campus projects and real-world training. This collaboration delivers directly on that objective.
Under the agreement, MBZUAI and AWS will launch a Strategic Research Program focused on priority areas in AI. AWS will provide cloud services, technical mentorship, and access to public datasets, while MBZUAI contributes its faculty expertise, talent, and laboratory capacity. Together, they aim to translate research into practical, high-impact AI solutions.
Timothy Baldwin, Provost and Professor of Natural Language Processing at MBZUAI, said:
“This collaboration brings together academic depth and industrial scale. By combining MBZUAI’s scientific expertise with AWS’s mentorship, infrastructure, and guidance on relevant AWS programs that will support MBZUAI’s research, we are building a bridge between research and real-world impact and unlocking transformational opportunities for our faculty, researchers and students. Together we are growing an innovation ecosystem that is human-centered, inclusive, and ready to shape the future.”
The collaboration also supports the launch of the GenAI Academy, which will host hackathons for MBZUAI undergraduate students to tackle challenges in government, entrepreneurship, and social impact. AWS will provide additional training resources, including AWS Classroom Training and self-paced learning via AWS Skill Builder, to help MBZUAI personnel strengthen their expertise in cloud computing, AI, and machine learning (ML).
Chris Erasmus, General Manager, UAE, Rest of Middle East and North Africa at AWS, added:
“At AWS, we’re proud to collaborate with MBZUAI in empowering the next generation of innovators in the UAE. Blending our cloud technologies and expertise with MBZUAI’s visionary academic and research capabilities, we’re establishing a foundation of technical excellence to support the students and researchers of today and tomorrow. Through our shared commitment, we look forward to advancing technology and creating lasting impact in the region.”
MBZUAI’s Incubation and Entrepreneurship Center, launched in October 2023, will benefit from this partnership. Participating startups that join the AWS Activate program may receive support including AWS promotional credits, technical assistance, and business mentorship.
This strategic collaboration further positions MBZUAI as a national champion for applied AI, embedding real-world experience into research and education while supporting the UAE’s long-term digital transformation and innovation-led growth objectives.
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About Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI):
MBZUAI is a research-focused university in Abu Dhabi, dedicated entirely to advancing science through AI. The university empowers the next generation of AI leaders, driving innovation and impactful AI applications through world-class education and interdisciplinary research. In 2025, MBZUAI launched its first undergraduate program, a Bachelor of Science in AI, with two streams: Business and Engineering.
