A picture of MBZUAI president Eric Xing

Analysis

February 14, 2025

How the ‘Stanford of the Middle East’ is attracting top European researchers

The Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) gives senior staff unrestricted financial support and wants to create more spinouts

In the UAE, state-funded Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has big plans to become the "Stanford of the Middle East" — and the pitch is attracting some of Europe’s top researchers.

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Daphné Leprince-Ringuet

Daphné Leprince-Ringuet is a senior reporter for Sifted, based in Paris. She covers French tech and writes Sifted's AI and Deeptech newsletter . You can find her on X and LinkedIn

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