Sheikh Mohammed launches Annual Government Challenge for federal employees, teams

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, has launched the Annual Government Challenge, a new national platform that enables employees of federal ministries and entities to take part in designing and developing innovative solutions for national priorities, and to turn outstanding ideas into practical, scalable projects and models that enhance the efficiency of government work and its readiness for the future. 

Launched in conjunction with UAE Innovation Month, the challenge harnesses the energy, expertise and talent of government employees and strengthens collaboration among teams across federal entities, with each annual edition dedicated to a national priority.

The first edition will focus on developing Agentic AI solutions and applying them to redesign services and operations, enhance decision making and raise government performance. It will be overseen by the Mohammed bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation at the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs.

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum said, “As UAE Innovates begins, we launch today the Annual Government Challenge for UAE Government employees and teams. A new national initiative to inspire our government talent to create bold new solutions with real impact on our services, operations and projects. The first challenge: Agentic AI. We will honour the top 9 government projects and teams. We want unconventional ideas. Solutions that make a difference. Projects that take government work to new levels.”

Dedicating the first edition to Agentic AI reflects a priority to accelerate the shift of federal entities from using AI tools to redesigning services, operations and operating models around its capabilities, strengthening the integration of the government system and its readiness for the next phase.

Mohammad Bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the National Committee for the Agentic AI Project, said the Annual Government Challenge reflects the leadership’s vision of a government that does not merely keep pace with the future, but anticipates its shifts and designs its tools and models. Such a government invests in its greatest strength, its people and talent, to turn national challenges and priorities into opportunities and solutions that deliver real benefits for society.

He said, “Government work in the UAE is more agile and better prepared to deal with change. In the next phase, we aim to deploy Agentic AI assistants to work alongside employees in driving development, efficiency and productivity. Through this challenge, we are counting on our ability to combine the expertise of our people with the capabilities of technology to design a faster, more efficient and more proactive government. Agentic AI is not merely a new technical tool. It is an opportunity to redesign how government works, multiply the capabilities and impact of employees, and develop new government models that are practical and deliver greater impact and results.”

Al Gergawi added, “Through the Annual Government Challenge, we want every government employee to be a partner in developing government, and every outstanding idea to become an opportunity to design a better service, a more efficient process or a new operating model. The best government ideas come from those who live the challenges every day, and our role is to provide the environment that enables them to turn these ideas into solutions that make a difference.”

The first edition will conclude with the honouring of nine winning projects across the challenge’s three categories, with total prizes of Dhs9 million. Open to all federal ministries, entities and their employees, the challenge seeks to embed a culture of innovation, positive competition and solution development within government work, and to expand the role of government talent in designing practical solutions that raise efficiency, accelerate delivery and achieve tangible impact.

Each edition of the Annual Government Challenge is dedicated to a specific national priority, through which the UAE Government sets its employees a challenge that calls for new and practical ideas and solutions. This turns innovation from an individual practice into an integrated government system that advances national targets and strengthens the government’s readiness for the future.

The challenge comprises three main categories. Government Services focuses on solutions that directly serve customers by redesigning the service journey, simplifying procedures, cutting time and steps, and delivering faster, simpler and more proactive services.

Internal Operations focuses on improving ways of working within government entities, covering internal procedures and operations, coordination, monitoring, analysis and decision making. It aims to reduce repetitive work, accelerate delivery, raise employee productivity, and improve resource efficiency and the quality of performance.

Unconventional Ideas opens the door to bold new solutions that reimagine the role of government and how it works, offering unconventional models that create new opportunities for government work, accelerate national targets, and strengthen the UAE’s competitiveness and leadership.

Entries will be assessed against a set of key criteria, most notably the importance of the challenge and its alignment with strategic priorities, the quality and feasibility of the solution, the suitability of the proposed Agentic AI application, measurable impact and scalability, as well as governance and sustainability. Teams and entities can register through the challenge’s dedicated digital platform at challenge.gov.ae.

The first edition forms part of the UAE Government’s drive to accelerate the shift towards operating models powered by Agentic AI, and its target of transitioning 50 percent of government sectors, services and operations to Agentic AI models within two years. This will enhance decision making, raise performance, accelerate services and operations, and strengthen the ability of government entities to design operating models that are more agile, proactive and ready for the future.