The UAE announced an annual $1 million artificial intelligence prize for urban services on 14 October 2026. Mohammad Bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, introduced the competition at the Annual Meeting of Global Future Leaders in Dubai, Gulf Today reported. Dubai Municipality and the World Economic Forum are collaborating on the prize, which is intended to involve 10,000 changemakers from 150 countries.
Key points
- The annual competition carries a $1 million prize for AI solutions aimed at improving services and quality of life in cities.
- Dubai Municipality and the World Economic Forum are collaborating on the challenge, which is intended to draw participants from 150 countries.
- Organisers intend successful solutions to be used in other cities.
Dubai Municipality’s urban services challenge
The competition seeks AI applications that make city services work better for residents. Al Gergawi described its purpose as developing smart solutions for urban services and quality of life, The National reported. The newspaper described the technology sought as agentic AI. Its account puts the prize at $1 million and describes the competition as an annual undertaking.
The role of Dubai Municipality gives the challenge a city authority as a collaborator alongside the World Economic Forum. Gulf Today reported that the plan is to take successful solutions beyond the city in which they are developed. Organisers hope the initiative can serve as a model for hundreds of cities worldwide, according to The National. Those ambitions concern the later use of winning work as well as participation in the competition itself.
The proposed reach extends well beyond the UAE. Al Gergawi put participation at 10,000 changemakers across 150 countries in his account of the prize. The work he invited them to undertake concerns services delivered in cities, giving the challenge a defined public-sector use rather than an open call for AI products. Dubai has also pursued a separate competition for AI agents: an earlier AI Affairs account of its agents championship reported that the city had replaced an apps contest with that event.
Three names for the AI prize
The competition appeared under different names in accounts of the announcement. Gulf Today called it the International Innovation Challenge and Assistive AI Prize. Khaleej Times called it the Global Innovation Challenge AI Award. The National used Agentic AI Award. All three accounts placed a $1 million AI competition among the initiatives Al Gergawi presented at the Dubai meeting.
Khaleej Times described the award as a collaboration with Dubai Municipality to reward intelligent solutions for city services. Gulf Today identified both the municipality and the World Economic Forum as partners. In each account, the proposed application is municipal rather than a general test of model capability. The National’s description of agentic AI identifies the type of technology in its account of the award, while the other names place their emphasis on the challenge and the prize.
Al Gergawi’s three Dubai initiatives
The prize was one of three initiatives Al Gergawi introduced at the meeting. Gulf Today reported a proposed centre involving the Dubai Future Foundation and the World Economic Forum, intended to turn technological and economic opportunities into policies and projects. It also reported the Future 20 initiative, intended to recognise 20 leaders under 30. The prize differs from those two initiatives in asking participants to produce solutions for a particular category of service.
The meeting was organised by the UAE Government and the World Economic Forum, The National reported. Al Gergawi traced the UAE’s partnership with the forum to the 2008 Summit on the Global Agenda, according to Khaleej Times. He presented the new meeting as a gathering of leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs from more than 100 countries. The prize’s stated pool of participants is wider, at 150 countries.
The organisers will announce the competition’s winners at the 2027 meeting.
