The key facts
- The Annual Government Challenge was launched at the start of UAE Innovation Month
- The first challenge focuses on agentic AI; nine best projects and teams will be recognized
- The initiative continues the May plan to train 80,000 government employees to work with AI agents
A new competition for government employees
UAE Vice President and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid announced on Monday, November 2, the launch of the nationwide Annual Government Challenge campaign, addressed to employees and teams of the country's government. The goal is to encourage government employees to develop 'bold new solutions' that will create a real effect in services, operations and government projects, and to take the government's work 'to new levels.' The National reported this.
The first challenge: agentic AI
The campaign coincides with the start of UAE Innovation Month. The first challenge focuses on developing agentic artificial intelligence; according to Sheikh Mohammed, the nine best government projects and teams that have achieved a 'real impact' on improving services will be recognized. 'We want unconventional ideas, solutions that change the state of affairs, and projects that take government work to new levels,' the outlet quoted his words on X.
Context: a plan to train 80,000 employees
The competition became another step in the UAE's long-term strategy for the safe and responsible use of AI in the public sector. In May, the government announced plans to train 80,000 employees — from ministers to ordinary civil servants — to work with AI agents, so that within two years half of government services would be delivered using this technology. Sheikh Mohammed called it then the largest AI training program ever launched by the UAE government. The training will cover five categories: executives, technical specialists, domain experts, general staff and trainer preparation; a digital platform based on agentic AI with personalized learning paths will be created for federal employees. AI agents — autonomous models capable of making decisions and achieving goals with minimal supervision — are expected to be used to review policies, processes and procedures so that systems proactively perform tasks, reducing costs and increasing productivity. The rollout will proceed in stages across ministries and federal entities based on continuous evaluation of results, after which broader deployment at the federal level will follow.
