Abu Dhabi's flagship initiative, Masdar City, is now facilitating more than 900 enterprises focusing on innovative technologies to address the world's current sustainability issues through energy, space, and artificial intelligence.
One of the more significant milestones was the spacecraft launching to Mars' orbit in February 2021 by the UAE Space Agency to gather the planet's environmental data to help scientists gain insights on how to solve climate change.
The 2008 establishment is now a leading hub for innovation, research, and development in the gulf region. The city provides a strategic landscape for companies to build their networks and explore opportunities to achieve their goals.
Throughout the years, Masdar City has deployed several partnerships to demonstrate R&D of technology inventions, further positioning Abu Dhabi closer to a more sustainable future.
Ghantoot Desalination
Shortly after Masdar City's launch in 2013, the city conducted a pilot program to develop desalination technologies fully powered by renewable energy. The project was inaugurated in 2015 with the support of Abengoa, Suez, Veolia, and Trevi Systems as its commercial partner to operate a seawater desalination plant in Ghantoot.
The project was a government-funded approach to provide solutions that had resulted in a purifying technology through solar-powered reverse osmosis. Today, the method has increased the efficiency of thermal desalination technologies in the UAE to up to 75 percent.
Masdar Solar Hub
Masdar City launched the Masdar Solar Hub in 2015, focusing on research and development of solar thermal technologies ranging from equipment testing, prototype evaluation, and irradiance monitoring.
The hub is divided into the Photovoltaic (PV) Test Centre and the Masdar Institute Solar Platform. The PV test center offers in-depth module testing to assess different components within the module, eventually allowing the institute to establish a single-axis tracking system for UAE's challenging environmental conditions.
Simultaneously, the Masdar Institute Solar Platform (MISP) develops concentrated solar power (CSP) and thermal energy storage (TES) technologies demonstrable commercially. The output would equip a wide array of economic players to leverage reliable electricity generated entirely from renewable energies.
Electric Energy Storage Solutions Hub (EESSH)
The EESSH aims to deliver advanced energy storage solutions that allow battery system testings and optimize the establishment of technologies in the sphere of renewable energies.
Masdar City’s sustainable features encourage foreign ownership of assets and companies, precisely one in clean-tech industries, to commercialize the use of sustainable resources development.
The operational of the city also prioritize recycling and reuse of construction materials to reduce one-off material demands. Nevertheless, the buildings in Masdar City target a minimum of 3-Pearls Estidama rating across the area and a minimum of 4-pearls Estidama rating for its public spaces.
Smart Transportation
To attract migration towards the city, Masdar City technology offers clean-tech transit options to escalate its walkable environment.
There is a Personal Rapid Transit that provides a driverless electronic mode of transportation, the NAVYA Autonom Shuttle that could provide transportation for up to twelve people per ride, and Circ e-scooters for a more personal way of mobilization.
The city is also in line with two of the largest Abu Dhabi networks, the Metro and the Light Rail Transit (LRT), which would ease transportation in and out of the area.
