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For the second year running, the UAE has claimed the top spot on the world stage for artificial intelligence adoption, and by a widening margin. The 2026 Microsoft AI Economy Institute report placed the Emirates at a 70.1 per cent AI diffusion score, up from 64 per cent in 2025, comfortably ahead of Singapore, Norway, Ireland and France.

To put that in perspective: the United States, home to some of the largest AI companies on the planet, ranked 21st. Even after improving from 24th place in 2025, America trails the UAE by more than a decade of deliberate policy-making, infrastructure investment and institutional commitment to building an AI-native economy.

Amr Kamel, general manager for Microsoft's UAE division, said in a statement: “Growth at this scale reflects deliberate, long-term investment in the right foundations, even through more challenging periods. This milestone belongs to the UAE, to its government, its institutions, its businesses and the people who have made AI part of how they work and learn. The priority now is what comes next: enabling organisations to operate with confidence, sustain continuity and build forward responsibly. Microsoft’s role is to support that journey as a long-term partner to the UAE.”

That isn’t accidental. Over the past decade, the UAE has pursued an intentional strategy to shift its economic centre of gravity from hydrocarbons to high technology.

What the report captures isn’t just the presence of AI tools. It measures their broad adoption and adaptation across society and industry. In other words, it’s not enough to host AI companies. The UAE has woven AI into the fabric of how its businesses actually operate. That distinction matters enormously for entrepreneurs and enterprises deciding where to plant their flag.

For companies operating at the frontier of technology, location is a competitive asset. That’s the founding premise of Innovation City, the UAE’s premier AI-powered free zone in Ras Al Khaimah. Designed from the ground up for the industries shaping tomorrow - AI, Web3, healthtech, robotics, gaming and more - Innovation City gives businesses more than an address. It delivers a complete ecosystem: streamlined licensing, a community of like-minded innovators, world-class infrastructure and immediate proximity to one of the world’s most AI-forward markets.

When the country you’re operating in leads the world in AI adoption, every partnership, every client conversation and every hiring decision happens in an environment primed for technology-led growth. The UAE’s ascent to the top of the Microsoft index isn’t a statistic to file away; it’s a signal about where the next chapter of the global AI economy is being written.

At Innovation City, we’ve built the platform for companies who want to write that chapter from the front row.

At Innovation City, we have designed a launchpad for companies who want to lead that chapter, not just witness it.