NEP-AI Turns UAE Talent Policy Into Applied Projects

The UAE has started NEP-AI with 32 Emirati artificial intelligence specialists, turning a national talent program into a seven-month track tied to strategic AI priorities.

The track sits inside the National Experts Program and is designed to move participants from leadership training into sector-specific implementation work.

The policy signal is concrete because the cohort is not described only as a classroom program.

Its central test is the NEP-AI Capstone Project, where participants have to choose sector-specific problems and turn them into implementation work that can be measured inside their organizations and across the UAE.

The track was launched in November 2025 by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Custodianship sits with Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

That placement inside the Presidential Court-linked program makes NEP-AI a state-backed talent pipeline rather than a stand-alone technology workshop.

A Cohort Built Across Sectors And Emirates

The group is the National Experts Program's largest and most geographically and age-diverse cohort since its inception in 2019.

It includes participants from six Emirates, with an average age of 33, and draws from public institutions, state-owned enterprises and private companies.

The sector mix matters for implementation.

Public institutions account for 50% of the cohort, state-owned enterprises account for 28%, and private-sector participants account for 22%.

The academic profile is also advanced: 22% of participants hold PhDs and 66% hold Master's degrees.

That combination gives the program a cross-sector base rather than limiting AI capability to one government department or one commercial vertical.

Governance Is Part Of The Training Design

NEP-AI supports the UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 and places governance alongside technical and leadership development.

The opening module in Abu Dhabi ran from June 8–12 and set a shared foundation around the national AI strategy, governance framework and sector priorities.

That structure shows where the UAE is trying to reduce execution risk.

The program asks participants to test AI against decisions, government services, competitiveness and new economic uses, while keeping those themes connected to named sector priorities.

Those are broad goals, but the capstone requirement narrows the test to projects that can be linked to organizational use cases.

What To Watch In The Capstone Phase

The next proof point is whether the NEP-AI capstone projects produce measurable outcomes inside the participants' organizations.

The current evidence establishes the cohort size, sector mix, academic depth, governance emphasis and national-policy alignment.

It does not yet show which AI systems will be deployed, which agencies or companies will implement them, or what performance benchmarks the projects must meet.