Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Group 42 (G42), the leading artificial intelligence and cloud computing company based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), announced on Thursday it is establishing a wholly-owned subsidiary in Israel.

The new international office will allow access to technologies and talents available in the country, while also serving as a gateway for Israeli companies seeking to expand their operations in the UAE and the Middle East.

This is the first time a UAE company establishes an international office in Israel, a testimony to the intensification of collaboration between the two countries in the wake of the recent diplomatic agreements.

Operations in the new office will be led by a team of experts from both countries and will focus on healthcare and COVID-19 diagnostic solutions, advanced AI research, agritech and water supply solutions, smart cities and renewable energies.

Israel is today home to more than 6,000 high-tech companies and startups, has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world (apart from the Silicon Valley), and leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the US, over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany.

Peng Xiao, CEO of Group 42, commented: “The establishment of the new Israeli office will strengthen G42’s presence in the region and give us access to one of the most vibrant and mature tech ecosystems in the world. It also reaffirms our ideals of openness and inclusiveness as we engage with international partners to harness best ideas and capabilities and solve problems in every sector for the benefit of society.”

On Aug.19, G42 announced a partnership with the Nanoscent, an Israeli startup specialised in scent reading technologies, to collaborate on the development, validation, distribution and manufacturing of Scent Check, a revolutionary solution capable of detecting suspected cases of COVID-19 from a sample of exhaled nasal air.

G42 was one of the first respondents to the COVID-19 pandemic, acting in the frontline of the battle since the outbreak. After establishing a massive throughput testing laboratory in Abu Dhabi in 14 days, G42 is currently leading the world's first Phase III clinical trials for the COVID-19 inactivated vaccine.

The initiative, launched under the brand 4Humanity, has already seen the participation of more than 15,000 volunteers in the UAE and has recently expanded to Bahrain and Jordan, with other international locations to be announced soon.