Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, inaugurated the 38th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC) in Dubai.

The three-day conference brings together 420 researchers from 22 countries, in addition to 85 research centres and international universities, to discuss and review the latest scientific and technological research related to the development of construction methods using robots and artificial intelligence.

Al Mazrouei in his speech hoped to achieve the best possible results through the generous participation of all the concerned in the event. “It will pave the way for innovations in building smart and sustainable cities, exchanging views and contributing to strengthening artificial intelligence, technological development and innovations in various sectors especially infrastructure,” he said.

He added, “The future holds within it many rapid changes and great challenges represented in adapting the modern systems and technology to serve our world, realising the impact of the modern infrastructure, and ensuring a smooth transition from traditional systems to modern patterns, which requires us to work hard to keep pace with it and benefit from it to serve the aspirations of our governments and support our path towards a prosperous future filled with ambitious achievements.”

The Minister went on to say, “We hope that the use of robots and automation in the construction industry will be a qualitative addition to our efforts to confront the repercussions of climate change and reduce the environmental impact of the building and construction industry on our future cities. We, in the UAE, aim to reduce the carbon emissions by 70 percent by the year 2050; therefore, we always welcome to experiment the new technologies and support the academic and industrial R&D to improve the efficiency and reduce the emissions and cost in the infrastructure.”

He explained that the UAE hosts more than 190 countries at Expo 2020 Dubai held under the theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”, which is in line with the general perspective of the activities of ISARC 2021.

“So it is necessary for us to participate together to create the future of infrastructure by taking advantage of the Expo, which represents an international platform to reach the largest number of countries to make a global impact in the construction and infrastructure, and to move quickly to find innovative solutions to the great challenges that our cities will face,” he noted.

Al Mazrouei also congratulated Colombia for winning the hosting of the 39th session of the conference.