UAE industry ministry wraps Japan visit to push factory-ready innovation

The UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology has wrapped up a working visit to Japan aimed at turning scientific research and innovation into solutions that factories can actually use, with talks held in Tokyo and Kyoto covering industry, technology and artificial intelligence.

Hassan Jassim Al Nowais, Undersecretary of the Ministry, led the delegation. His programme combined two formal engagements: the UAE-Japan Round Table for Technology and Artificial Intelligence in Tokyo and the 23rd Round Table of Ministers of Science and Technology in Kyoto. Officials and representatives of entities and companies from both countries took part in the sessions.

Delivery of technology into real production settings ran through both sets of talks. In Tokyo, discussions centred on strengthening industrial partnerships and speeding up the adoption of advanced technologies, with cooperation opportunities explored in artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, digital manufacturing and precision manufacturing. The stated aim is to raise productivity, quality and sustainability, and to move innovation out of the laboratory and into tangible impact on factory floors.

The Kyoto leg shifted the focus to the research-to-manufacturing pipeline. Delegates addressed ways to reinforce links between scientific research and the industrial sector, and to develop pathways that allow research outcomes and scientific progress to be applied in actual manufacturing environments. The emphasis, according to the ministry, was on transforming ideas into practical solutions that respond to factory needs and production challenges rather than remaining at the conceptual stage.

For implementation, the ministry points to the UAE’s competitive industrial environment as a space where technology- and research-based solutions can be experimented with, applied and scaled up in factories. A key operational vehicle is the “Factories of Tomorrow” initiative, which supports connectivity between technology providers and the industrial sector. That linkage, the ministry argues, enhances opportunities to test and adopt promising solutions, while international partnerships and comprehensive economic partnership agreements offer a route to bring successful solutions to global markets.

The visit closed with a concrete invitation aimed at extending this delivery pipeline across borders. Japanese companies, investors and industrialists were invited to take part in “Make in the Emirates”, scheduled to be held in Abu Dhabi from 3 to 6 May 2027. The event is positioned as a platform to strengthen partnerships, explore cooperation and investment opportunities, and link innovation directly to the needs of the industrial sector.

Further details of the delegation’s programme and outcomes were reported by Voice of Emirates at https://www.voiceofemirates.com/en/business/business-reports/2026/10/10/japan-conclusion-of-the-visit-of-the-delegation-of-the-uae-ministry-of-industry-and-advanced-technology/

Taken together, the Tokyo and Kyoto sessions frame the ministry’s approach as one measured less by declarations of intent than by whether research, technology providers and manufacturers can be connected in working industrial settings. The 2027 Abu Dhabi event now stands as the next checkpoint for those partnerships.