News Summary:

  • Strategic collaboration to establish the UAE’s National AI Test and Validation Lab to provide sovereign, independent assessment and certification for AI models, agents, and applications.
  • Built on secure Cisco networking, the Lab utilizes the Cisco AI Defense platform and OI AI Security to automate continuous red-teaming, policy conformance, and vulnerability testing at national scale.
  • By verifying AI systems against rigorous national and international standards, the Lab enables government and private sector organizations to deploy AI with confidence.

MAKE IN THE EMIRATES CONFERENCE, ABU DHABI, UAE — The UAE is setting a new global benchmark for the secure and responsible adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). As the nation accelerates its AI adoption, the UAE Cyber Security Council (CSC), Open Innovation AI, and Cisco, working in strategic collaboration with Emircom, today announced the establishment of the National AI Test and Validation Lab. This is a first-of-its-kind facility to help UAE government entities and private sector organizations test, validate and certify AI models, agents and applications for security, safety and trustworthiness.

H.E. Dr. Mohamed Al-Kuwaiti, Head of Cybersecurity, UAE Government and Chairman of the UAE Cyber Security Council said: “Artificial intelligence is becoming part of the fabric of government services, critical infrastructure and everyday life in the UAE. The National AI Test and Validation Lab offers the country a sovereign capability to ensure that every AI model and every AI agent deployed in our economy is secure, trustworthy and aligned with our national policies. This is how we turn the UAE's ambition to lead in AI into concrete, verifiable assurance for our citizens.”

A Sovereign Environment for AI Security 

Hosted in the UAE, and operated under the governance of the Cyber Security Council, the Lab is designed with the aim of enabling AI deployments that are aligned with UAE cybersecurity policies related to AI, cloud and critical information infrastructure. Additionally, it aims to assess the models’ compliance against international standards such as ISO 42001, MITRE ATLAS, NIST AI RMF, and the OWASP frameworks for LLMs and AI agents.

Comprehensive Assessment Framework 

The Lab provides a comprehensive evaluation of AI systems aiming to ensure the highest standards of reliability. Assessments cover:

  • Model Security: Testing for robustness and safety.
  • Threat Defense: Identifying vulnerabilities like prompt-injection and jailbreak attempts.
  • Data Integrity: Monitoring for data leakage and privacy risks.
  • Supply-Chain Security: Verifying the integrity of models and weights.
  • Agent Autonomy: Evaluating risks associated with agent tool-use.
  • Regulatory Compliance: Ensuring alignment with UAE AI, cloud, and cybersecurity mandates.

Systems that successfully pass these evaluations will receive a national certification mark. This provides regulators, operators, and citizens with clear assurance that the AI system is secure and verified.

Fady Younes, Managing Director for Cybersecurity at Cisco Middle East, Turkey, Africa, Romania, and CIS commented: “In the AI era, security cannot be an afterthought; it must be embedded within all infrastructure. Our collaboration with the UAE Cyber Security Council and Open Innovation AI marks a pivotal moment in securing the future of the UAE’s digital economy. By combining our secure, AI-ready infrastructure with the UAE’s proactive regulatory vision, we are creating a global blueprint for an AI ecosystem that is resilient by design, protected at scale, and inherently trustworthy.” 

Dr. Abed Benaichouche, Chief Executive Officer, Open Innovation AI commented: “Securing AI cannot be a one-time exercise, models evolve, agents act autonomously, and new attack techniques emerge every week. With the UAE Cyber Security Council and Cisco, we are industrialising AI security: continuously red-teaming, testing and certifying AI systems at a scale that matches how fast they are being deployed. We expect the Lab to analyse tens to hundreds of thousands of agents per year, and we are proud to put our platform at the service of the UAE's national mission.”

A Unified Technology Stack

The Lab is built on a high-performance foundation designed for scale. By combining Cisco’s secure infrastructure with Open Innovation AI’s software, the Lab is designed with the aim to automate policy conformance and evidence collection. Key components include:

  • Cisco AI-Ready Infrastructure: Secure networking and high-performance compute powered by NVIDIA GPUs.
  • Open Innovation Cluster Manager (OICM): Orchestrates end-to-end AI workloads.
  • OI AI Security & Cisco AI Defense: Provides comprehensive red-teaming and automated testing.

Operational at Scale

The Lab is already operational. Over the coming months, the facility aims to scale to analyze tens of thousands of AI agents annually, supporting the UAE’s rapid adoption of agentic AI.

Open to government and industry

The Lab will serve federal and local government entities, critical national infrastructure operators, financial services, healthcare, energy and telecommunications, as well as UAE-based AI developers seeking to demonstrate that their models and agents meet national requirements before going to market.

About the UAE Cyber Security Council  

The UAE Cyber Security Council is the national authority mandated to develop and govern the United Arab Emirates' cybersecurity strategy, policies and regulations. The Council leads national cyber resilience, protects UAE cyberspace, oversees sector-specific cyber policies, including for artificial intelligence and cloud, and coordinates the country's response to cyber threats in partnership with federal and local government entities, the private sector and international allies.

About Cisco 

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is one of the global technology leaders that is revolutionizing the way organizations connect and protect in the AI era. For more than 40 years, Cisco has always aimed to securely connect the world. With its industry leading AI-powered solutions and services, Cisco enables its customers, partners and communities to unlock innovation, enhance productivity, and strengthen digital resilience.  With purpose at its core, Cisco remains committed to creating a more connected and inclusive future for all. Discover more on The Newsroom and follow us on X at @Cisco.

About Open Innovation AI

Open Innovation AI is a UAE-based technology company enabling enterprise adoption of artificial intelligence through a sovereign, hardware-agnostic platform. Its core product, the Open Innovation Cluster Manager (OICM), delivers GPU orchestration and full lifecycle management for AI workloads, from development to deployment. The company also offers OI AI Security, a solution for testing and securing AI models and applications, helping organizations deploy trusted AI systems at scale.

Media Contacts
UAE Cybersecurity Council: media@csc.gov.ae

Cisco Middle East: razaki@cisco.com

Open Innovation AI: press@openinnovation.ai