His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, has launched the Annual Government Challenge, a national platform built around Agentic AI. It lets employees of federal ministries and entities help design and develop innovative solutions for national priorities.

The platform also aims to turn outstanding ideas into practical, scalable projects and models. These are meant to improve the efficiency of government work and its readiness for the future.

A New National Platform for Government Talent

The challenge was launched in conjunction with UAE Innovation Month. It draws on the energy, expertise and talent of government employees. It also strengthens collaboration among teams across federal entities.

Each annual edition will be dedicated to a national priority. The Mohammed bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation at the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs will oversee the challenge.

First Edition Focus

The first edition will concentrate on developing solutions that redesign services and operations, enhance decision making and raise government performance.

This reflects a priority to accelerate the shift of federal entities. Instead of only using AI tools, they will redesign services, operations and operating models around AI capabilities. This also supports the integration of the government system and its readiness for the next phase.

Message from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid

Sheikh Mohammed said: “As UAE Innovates begins, we launch today the Annual Government Challenge for UAE Government employees and teams. A new national initiative to inspire our government talent to create bold new solutions with real impact on our services, operations and projects. The first challenge: Agentic AI. We will honour the top 9 government projects and teams. We want unconventional ideas. Solutions that make a difference. Projects that take government work to new levels.”

Al Gergawi on the Vision

Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi is Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the National Committee for the Agentic AI Project. He said the challenge reflects the leadership’s vision of a government that anticipates future shifts and designs its own tools and models. Such a government invests in its greatest strength, its people and talent. It turns national challenges and priorities into opportunities and solutions that benefit society.

He added: “Government work in the UAE is more agile and better prepared to deal with change. In the next phase, we aim to deploy Agentic AI assistants to work alongside employees in driving development, efficiency and productivity. Through this challenge, we are counting on our ability to combine the expertise of our people with the capabilities of technology to design a faster, more efficient and more proactive government.”

He continued: “Through the Annual Government Challenge, we want every government employee to be a partner in developing government, and every outstanding idea to become an opportunity to design a better service, a more efficient process or a new operating model. The best government ideas come from those who live the challenges every day, and our role is to provide the environment that enables them to turn these ideas into solutions that make a difference.”

Prizes and Participation

The first edition will conclude with the honouring of nine winning projects across three categories. Total prizes come to AED9 million.

The challenge is open to all federal ministries, entities and their employees. It seeks to embed a culture of innovation, positive competition and solution development within government work. It also aims to expand the role of government talent in designing practical solutions that raise efficiency, accelerate delivery and achieve tangible impact.

Each edition sets employees a challenge that calls for new and practical ideas. In this way, innovation moves from an individual practice to an integrated government system that advances national targets.

Three Challenge Categories

Government Services focuses on solutions that directly serve customers. These redesign the service journey, simplify procedures and cut time and steps. The goal is faster, simpler and more proactive services.

Internal Operations focuses on improving ways of working within government entities. It covers internal procedures, coordination, monitoring, analysis and decision making. It aims to reduce repetitive work, accelerate delivery, raise productivity and improve resource efficiency and performance quality.

Unconventional Ideas opens the door to bold solutions that reimagine the role of government and how it works. These models should create new opportunities, accelerate national targets and strengthen the UAE’s competitiveness and leadership.

How Entries Will Be Assessed

Entries will be judged against a set of key criteria. The most notable are:

• The importance of the challenge and its alignment with strategic priorities
• The quality and feasibility of the solution
• The suitability of the proposed Agentic AI application
• Measurable impact and scalability
• Governance and sustainability

Teams and entities can register through the challenge’s dedicated digital platform at challenge.gov.ae.

Part of a Wider Government Shift

The first edition forms part of the UAE Government’s drive toward operating models powered by Agentic AI. The government has set a target of transitioning 50 percent of government sectors, services and operations to Agentic AI models within two years.

This move is expected to enhance decision making, raise performance and accelerate services and operations. It should also strengthen the ability of government entities to design operating models that are more agile, proactive and ready for the future.

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