As well as providing a cutting-edge hub for artificial intelligence (AI) research and learning, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) is also working to turn AI-driven ideas into real-world startups.
MBZUAI’s Incubation and Entrepreneurship Centre (MIEC), launched in November 2023, has quickly become a driving force behind the UAE’s emerging AI-powered innovations. In less than a year, MIEC has propelled startups that are shaping industries and solving real-world problems. From revolutionising AI safety to transforming healthcare, these ventures are making impacts on businesses and communities. Let’s explore five startups led by MBZUAI researchers, students, and alumni that are turning AI technologies into practical solutions, catalysing impact in the UAE and beyond.
1) LibrAI
LibrAI is an AI safety monitoring platform designed to help developers create safe, responsible, ethical AI solutions that meet compliance needs across borders, such as a fact-checking assistant. Founder and CEO, Xudong Han, is a postdoctoral researcher at MBZUAI and has been mentored and advised by MBZUAI’s Provost, Professor Timothy Baldwin.
LibraAI is a web-based platform which provides developers, including leading universities and AI firms, access to a suite of products which help ensure that safety and ethical considerations are built into their AI solutions from concept to completion. The startup has grown to employ eight staff with an AI doctorate, research and/or engineering background.
MIEC backed LibrAI in the first round of the MIEC Innovation Grant and assisted with the company’s setup and go-to-market in the UAE.
2) Audiomatic
Audiomatic is an AI-powered audio integration platform created by two MBZUAI machine learning students, Muhammad Taimoor Haseeb and Ahmad Hammoudeh, with the aim of revolutionising content creation by automating audio production for visual storytelling while mitigating licensing challenges.
PhD student Haseeb and master’s student Hammoudeh are both self-confessed “music and content creation fans” who wanted to remove the heavy lifting for people making adverts, movie scenes, or social media posts. Audiomatic achieves this by enabling users to upload a video to its platform which will then overlay emotionally intelligent audio production that matches the video’s content including music, sound effects, and narration.
Audiomatic received a first-round MIEC Innovation Grants and most recently won the ‘Idea Stage Startups’ category at the Entrepreneurship World Cup 2024 held in Dubai.
3) Limb
Limb is a startup created by Emirati Shamma Alsaedi, an MBZUAI Class of 2024 graduate, to make physiotherapy more effective, affordable, flexible, and accessible. She was particularly keen to overcome challenges for returning patients such as her mother and grandmother who struggled to do their rehabilitation exercises correctly, and to enable practitioners to better monitor treatment.
Limb was her response — an AI-powered system that uses a 3D model to help patients correct their posture while doing physiotherapy exercises, provides tips for improvement, and flags any major issues. Limb’s 3D model is hyper-personalised to ensure patients stay motivated over time.
Alsaedi completed the entrepreneurship course at MIEC, and the startup Limb recently won first place in the ‘Future Pioneers’ category at the Entrepreneurship Challenge 2024 under the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) Graduate Fund. Alsaedi is currently working on an update with the goal of partnering with rehab centres in the future.
4) Cradle AI
CradleAI is a human-centric company in the AI industry dedicated to providing safe, comfortable, and sustainable solutions that help parents better care for their babies. Founded by Prof. Kun Zhang, professor and acting chair of machine learning at MBZUAI, Dr. Yuewen Sun, Yu Kang Wong, and Minghao Fu, Cradle AI is committed to revolutionising how parents interact with their babies. This group of researchers has been devoted to identifying opportunities for AI to improve human life and society safely.
The company’s flagship product, LetBabyTalk, is designed to bridge the communication gap between babies and their parents. By simply recording the baby’s cries, LetBabyTalk instantly decodes whether the baby is hungry, has a stomach ache, or needs something else. It also offers personalised advice and tips from childcare experts, making parenting easier and more intuitive.
5) Nutrigenics Care
NutriGenics Care is an innovative startup co-founded by two MBZUAI PhD students, Wafa Al Ghallabi and Omkar Thawakar. The startup is supervised by Dr. Muzammal Naseer, MBZUAI research scientist and esteemed MBZUAI professors, Dr. Salman Khan and Professor Fahad Khan. The idea for Nutrigenics Care was conceived from a pressing need to enhance dietary adherence and health outcomes through more accurate, personalised meal tracking and recipe plans along holistically targeting clinical dietitians, nutritionists, fitness experts, and healthcare providers. The platform differentiates itself by fostering improved patient-dietitian engagement through real-time interactive monitoring charts of patients’ dietary history and personalised dietary solutions.
Nutrigenics Care recently won first place at MIEC’s Pitch Day and was accepted into the Microsoft Startups Founders Hub.
The AI industry stands unparalleled in its pace, growth, and swift evolution, particularly within the startup ecosystem. Each day brings forth novel developments in technology, products, and markets, distinct from what came before. This dynamic environment of innovation has maintained our enthusiasm and led to the establishment of MIEC.
