Thrust Areas
Mirrors Google Form field 8 (multi-select checkboxes). Selected: all four (Digital Assets, AI Models for the Economy, The Economics of AI, Digital Infrastructure).
Cross-thrust proposals are explicitly welcomed by the RFP. Each selected area should have a rationale paragraph in the project description (eoi-project-description) explaining why it is in scope and how the work advances it.
Selected: AI Models for the Economy
- AI models for complex economic environments (global trade, monetary networks, shock propagation, resilience)
- AI tools on transparent high-granularity decentralized-market data for crisis dynamics and recovery
- High-quality digital-economy databases (supply chains, decentralized markets, smart cities); AI foundation models for time series
- Agentic AI for financial investors compliant with regulations; agentic/generative AI for economic data simulation
Rationale (write in description): to fill - what is your specific angle in this thrust?
Selected: Digital Assets
- Tokenization of public and private assets (market and technical solutions)
- Economically sound architectures for digital money (CBDCs, stablecoins, tokenized deposits)
- Risk management, collateral efficiency, automation in digital financial systems
- Safe, scalable decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure
Rationale (write in description): to fill
Selected: The Economics of AI
- Effects of AI on labor, capital, and economic organization
- AI as an asset class (market structure, funding cycles, energy/HPC cost dynamics, profitability)
- Interpretable, causally-informed economic decision-making (neurally and behaviorally grounded)
- Quantifying uncertainty in AI models for market and economic prediction
Rationale (write in description): to fill
Selected: Digital Infrastructure
- Autonomous adaptive smart-contract ecosystems integrated with compliant AI agents
- Cryptographic tools for trusted, verifiable, private AI within decentralized governance
- Phygital solutions: digital twins, proof-based identity / authenticity / reserves
- Quantum-based technologies for finance and AI
Rationale (write in description): to fill
RFP guidance
- Cross-thrust proposals are explicitly welcomed.
- Every proposal must show an application-readiness path: Fundamental Research -> Applied Research -> Tech Development -> Validation -> Products & Services. Purely theoretical work is unlikely to win.
- Engagement with UAE-based researchers, institutions, data ecosystems, or capacity-building is positively weighted. Stephen Chan at American University of Sharjah satisfies this directly.
Strategic note
Selecting all four thrust areas is bold. The proposal will need a single coherent narrative that touches all four, not four separate strands. Consider whether a primary thrust + secondary thrust framing would read better than four equal strands. The 3000-character description budget makes four equal coverage tight (about 750 characters per area).