IBM Joins The GMIS Mission, a Joint UAE-UN Initiative

Las Vegas, United States, March 2018: One of world’s biggest names in technology development has joined forces with the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) to support its aim of uniting sectors and nations to transform the future of manufacturing – through capitalizing on a new age of innovation that is redrawing the boundaries of possibility.

IBM (NYSE: IBM), the US multinational technology company and global leader in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), has been announced as a Founding Partner of the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit at Think 2018, a conference where thought-leaders from around the world gather with the aim of building a smarter business world, held in Las Vegas from 19-22 March.

The Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit was established in 2015 to build bridges between manufacturers, governments and NGOs, technologists, and investors in harnessing the transformative impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) to regenerate the global economy.

As a joint initiative by the United Arab Emirates government and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit is the world’s first-ever cross industry forum, committed to promoting a roadmap for manufacturing that echoes the evolution of technology, international trade, and global best practices.

Committed to global good, the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit aims to ensure not only the future prosperity of the manufacturing sector, but its alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), in order for it to build stronger societies and communities as well as businesses.

Its groundbreaking partnership with IBM – which has been at the vanguard of game-changing innovation for more than a century – is designed to maximize AI’s potential to develop and advance new technology applications that can underpin the manufacturing sector of the future, enabling it to generate economic benefits that are felt by all.

IBM has positioned itself at the global leading-edge of AI through its Watson platform, a computer system capable of answering questions posed in natural language.

“The acceleration of innovation is intertwined with IBM,” said His Excellency Engineer Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei, UAE Minister of Energy & Industry, and GMIS Co-Chair. “It is a true technological visionary, with its dedication to changing the world and improving lives aligning seamlessly with the mission of GMIS.”

“IBM brings expertise, experience, and global recognition value to a partnership that will enhance the capacity of its technology to contribute to the regeneration of economies, and the strengthening of societies, on a worldwide scale. We look forward to working with IBM as a fellow pioneer, and a key player in developing a global solution for the challenges facing manufacturing that also builds closer connections between the sector and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

The partnership has been announced as sights turn toward GMIS2019 – the second edition of the Summit – which aims to build on the momentum created by its successful first edition, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, at the Paris Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi in March 2017.

More than 3,000 government, business, and civil society leaders gathered at GMIS2017 with the goal of advancing global manufacturing and industrial development, and identifying trends and opportunities in technology and innovation; global value chains; skills, employment, and education; sustainability and the environment; infrastructure; and standards and stakeholder alignment.

His Excellency Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit, commented: “IBM is one of the world’s most progressive and innovative technology companies, and will bring invaluable experience and insights to GMIS as we seek to maximize the benefits of the fourth industrial revolution for the global good.“

Ll Yong, Director General of UNIDO and Co-Chair of the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit, said: “Let me here reinforce the important notion of partnerships. The New Industrial Revolution  is too vast, too complex, and too universal for any single entity or country to embrace it on its own. We need to create multi-sector partnerships that will allow us to drive the necessary industrialization and industrial retrofitting processes forward.”

“Successful partnerships require the dynamism and drive of the private sector; the social perspective of civil society organizations; the knowledge of academia; and the policies of the public sector, to be able to tackle the challenges of disruptive technological change.”

“Building partnerships while respecting and valuing the roles and capacities of one another will allow us to mobilize the resources for inclusive and sustainable industrial development. The more we understand how production could develop, the better placed we will be to prepare for the risks and reap the benefits.

“IBM has long recognized the power of technology to make the world smarter and more prosperous,” said Dr. John E. Kelly III, Senior Vice President, Cognitive Solutions and IBM Research. “Innovations from artificial intelligence to the internet of things will fundamentally transform the future of manufacturing and create abundant opportunity for those with the skills to work seamlessly with these advanced technologies. We are proud to be a founding partner of GMIS, and are committed to ensuring that the benefits of the fourth industrial revolution are felt widely across business and society.”