Date: 14th August, 2021
Nasser Vocational Training Centre (NVTC) and the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies (Derasat) have signed a memorandum of Understanding to enhance partnership in developing innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) and exchanging expertise.
The memorandum was signed at the NVTC campus by Derasat’s Executive Director Dr. Hamad Ebrahim Al-Abdullah and NVTC Executive Director Dr. Abdullah Al Noaimi.
The MoU is to unite efforts and experts to establish Nasser Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Centre and to make it one of the leading centres in this field.
Derasat will participate and use facilities in Nasser AI R&D Centre as its focal location for all its AI research, innovations and projects for its students and academies.
Nasser AI R&D Centre will ensure Derasat requirements are studied and taken into consideration through the provision of facilities and guidelines.
Al Noaimi praised Derasat’s exceptional reputation and its integrated vision in cooperating and coordinating with various official organizations from the public and private sectors, and its successes at all levels.
He emphasized the importance of the MOU in fulfilling a partnership that helps unlock new prospects to increase contributions to the national economy, by enriching the Kingdom with AI applications in various fields.
Al Noaimi expressed his hope that the valuable initiative contributes to creating an attractive environment that enrolls Bahrainis in future science field.
Al Abdullah said the Derasat Center aspires to form a strategic partnership with NVTC to provide the vocational competencies required by the Bahraini market, capable of taking the Kingdom to new prospects of productive work.
This would be by investing in the exceptional human element presented by the national educational establishments that managed to concretize the vision of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in uplifting the capabilities and skills of Bahraini youth, placing them in advanced ranks in the Arab World.
“Derasat aims – through this partnership – to integrate its efforts with NVTC and accomplish a set of research related to developing AI applications by and for Bahraini youth; examining local market needs; and exploring favorable opportunities to enhance Bahrain’s placement and competitiveness in the Arabian Gulf region,” Al Abdullah said.
He described the agreement as aiding national efforts to develop innovation in the field of artificial intelligence in the Kingdom, eventually achieving the higher goal of turning Bahrain into a regional AI hub.