The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has spent the past decade positioning itself as one of the world’s most ambitious adopters of artificial intelligence (AI), embedding it across government services, healthcare, transport, energy and public administration. Now, the digital transformation agenda is deepening in emergency management and public safety.
Abu Dhabi-based AI company Presight has signed a Cooperation Agreement with the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence Authority (ADCDA) to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence across emergency response operations, risk prediction and public protection systems. The initiative reflects a wider UAE effort to deploy AI not only as an economic driver, but also as a tool for societal resilience and citizen safety.
“Safety and preparedness are at the heart of every smart city,” said Adel Alsharji, chief operating officer at Presight. “Our collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence Authority
The partnership focuses on exploring AI-enabled technologies that can transform how emergency services prepare for, manage and respond to incidents. Priority areas include predictive dispatch systems, intelligent route optimisation for emergency vehicles, early fire detection, real-time simulations and data-driven risk mapping.
For ADCDA, the initiative supports a broader ambition to evolve into a digitally enabled safety authority capable of moving beyond reactive response models.
The company previously partnered with the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) to develop an AI-enabled emergency management platform designed to support police departments, civil defence organisations and medical services across the UAE.
The platform introduced unified operational capabilities, predictive modelling, scenario planning and integrated response coordination to improve preparedness for natural disasters, humanitarian incidents and large-scale emergencies.
Presight later expanded this work with the launch of Presight LifeSaver, an AI-powered crisis response platform that integrates dispatch management, emergency communications, hospital coordination and real-time analytics into a single operational environment.
The system incorporates predictive simulations, digital twins, internet of things connectivity and geospatial intelligence to reduce response times and improve inter-agency collaboration. The ADCDA agreement appears to represent another step in extending these capabilities directly into frontline civil defence operations.
AI at the centre of the UAE’s smart city strategy
The partnership also reflects a broader national movement, since the UAE has consistently invested in AI infrastructure and digital transformation programmes as part of its long-term economic diversification strategy. The country was among the first globally to appoint a minister of state for artificial intelligence, and has since accelerated investment in sovereign AI capabilities, data platforms and smart infrastructure initiatives.
Beyond emergency management projects, Presight has been involved in AI initiatives spanning urban intelligence, public sector digitisation, energy optimisation and smart mobility. The company recently expanded internationally while continuing to grow domestic programmes linked to government resilience and infrastructure modernisation.
The public safety sector is now emerging as one of the UAE’s most visible use cases. As cities become denser, and climate risks, cyber threats and infrastructure complexity continue to rise, authorities increasingly require predictive systems capable of moving emergency management from response to prevention.
The Presight-ADCDA cooperation agreement illustrates this shift. Rather than focusing solely on incident management, the partnership aims to build intelligent systems capable of identifying risks before emergencies occur, optimising resources in real time and improving resilience across entire urban environments.
