Tawazun Economic Council Speaks At Dubai Aerospace Forum

Tawazun Economic Council spoke at the Resilience Strategy Forum on Thursday to discuss industrial partnerships in the UAE and future collaboration opportunities post COVID19.

Abdullah Al Awani, Executive Director, Economic Partnerships at Tawazun Economic Council, attended the forum and spoke along with senior representatives from international defense, aerospace and technology companies to include presenting on a panel with Badr Al Olama, Executive Director – Aerospace, Mubadala Investment Company, Fahad Al Mheiri, Executive Director, Space Sector, UAE Space Agency, and Matthew Cochran, CEO, Defense Services Marketing Council.

In his keynote address, Al Awani welcomed the participants and underscored the growing and expanding opportunities the UAE offers to business and industrial partners with a focus on strategic sectors and technologies as the new policy main drivers.

Tawazun Economic Council, Tawazun, is considering plans to support UAE’s aerospace sector and to maintain the country’s global position as a key industry player in the post-COVID-19 era,. Al Awani said

“Tawazun focuses on driving innovation in aerospace. Over 34 percent of projects and investments created under Tawazun Economic Program are focused primarily on aerospace,” said Abdulla Saif Al Awani, Executive Director, Economic Partnerships, at Tawazun.

Al Awani underlined the series of changes to the Tawazun Economic program, announced by Tawazun last year, through which foreign and local investments are channeled into key sectors of the economy.

The new program allows for the development of technology-driven solutions that extend beyond the defense and security industry, to include, Aerospace; Infrastructure and Transportation; Education Technology; Sustainability; Environment and Climate Change; and Food and Water Security.

It is worth mentioning that Tawazun Economic Council formed in August a collaboration with Airbus and the National Space Science and Technology Centre, NSSTC, from UAE University, to build and develop a Satellite Assembly, Integration and Testing, AIT, Centre with the aim of manufacturing components and assembling, integrating and testing small to medium satellites.

“Over the past years, we have been privileged to work with the Tawazun team and watch the council enable the creation of more than 100 plus projects and investment vehicles, covering 11 sectors, including defense manufacturing, but also in AI, robotics and advanced energy capture, storage and propulsion creating more than 135 billion AED in revenues,” Matthew Cochran, CEO, Defense Services Marketing Council said.

Cochran emphasized the importance of the meeting in highlighting the opportunities for collaboration and exchange of expertise, especially in human and technology development domains.

“We thank the Tawazun Economic Council for bringing to light the potential for collaboration among the local and international partners at this forum, the first in-person event we have all been together live and not virtual. During these unprecedented times during COVID19 and the new normal way of doing business is evolving with velocity everyday, this panel helped us understand how the task forces challenges can be tackled together as industry key stakeholders working together to enhance the future. With events such as this, we encourage our industry members to participate and learn about the new environment and players in our ecosystem,” Cochran added.

Mubadala and EDGE hosted the Resilience Strategy Forum at the Conrad Hotel in Dubaias part of the Global Aerospace Summit working to contribute directly to the industry and defining future activities and summits.