DUBAI: An insurance company lost a claim case to recover $340 million it paid to Emaar properties for losses resulting from the fire that broke out at the Address Downtown hotel during the 2016 New Year’s celebrations.

Orient Insurance, part of UAE’s Al-Futtaim Group, had paid Emaar $340 million as part of a settlement for the massive fire that engulfed the 63-storey hotel. After making the payment in 2018, Orient Insurance filed a civil lawsuit at Dubai Courts requesting contractors who worked on the design, construction and maintenance of the hotel to pay back the amount. It blamed the contractors for the spread of the blaze due to their failure to follow fire safety requirements in the construction process. However, a seven-member expert committee appointed by the court concluded that the fire was caused by an electrical short-circuit on a spotlight used to illuminate the building, according to legal documents.

Mohamed ElGhatit from OGH Legal, which is representing ALEC Engineering and Construction, one of the contractors in the case, told Arab News that the findings of the committee confirmed there were no errors in the building’s construction.

“Therefore, the claim that the fire was the contractors’ fault was false,” ElGhatit said.

The case involved leading contractors including Belhasa JV, Arabtec, Atkins, ALEC Engineering and Construction, Mirage and GAJ. The ruling can be appealed within 60 days.

On New Year's celebrations for 2016, a massive fire engulfed part of the luxury hotel in Dubai, near where revellers from all over the world had gathered to watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks display.

Dubai Police later attributed the fire to an electrical fault that caused major damages to the building.

* Mohamed ElGhatit from OGH Legal has clarified the claim case amounted to $340 million and not $435 million.

RIYADH: Eunoia, a Riyadh-based coaching entity, has taken the lead in using artificial intelligence to support employee well-being in the marketplace.

“When we say well-being, we’re not necessarily just talking about their health, but we’re also talking about their mental health, we’re looking at whether a company provides a motivating environment for employees to become better versions of themselves,” Maha Taibah, founder of Eunoia, told Arab News on the sidelines of the second Global AI Summit in Riyadh. The event was organized by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority under the theme, “Artificial Intelligence for the Good of Humanity.”

Eunoia was established in 2018 to offer growth-centric coaching that transcends standard coaching methods on an individual and group basis.

Taibah believes that humans are always able to reinvent themselves in relation to emerging innovations.

“As humans, we always reinvent ourselves. Before the Internet, we thought that people were going to go out of jobs because the Internet was coming. I think we have the capacity to evolve as human beings and whatever will be consumed by AI, we will definitely top it with something else that we are capable of. The human brain is magical,” she said.

Taibah is committed to youth development, bringing together public and private sector organizations to help shape their future by preparing them for their roles in society through innovative methods and carefully designed programs and products.

According to Taibah, Saudi Arabia is very well positioned to become a global player in technology with a large percentage of the population below 30 and keen to engage in innovation and technology.

“We are a very young nation, Saudi Arabia is 70 percent under 30, and we adopt technology very quickly,” she remarked.

Taibah believes that AI can be incorporated in multiple business sectors and startups can maximize its benefits.

“The trick here is really to understand how AI can serve the sector that you are interested in, it is the future and the future is already here,” Taibah added.

RIYADH: Norway-based Global IT services company Crayon is fully invested in the future of Saudi Arabia’s artificial intelligence sector as its CEO forecasts the industry will contribute to 12.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product by 2030.

During the second Global AI Summit held in Riyadh, Ziad Rizk, the CEO of Crayon Middle East and Africa, told Arab News that the Kingdom is an ideal location for the company to incubate its operations to meet the demand of the entire MEA region.

“Around $360 billion will be spent on AI across the Middle East and Africa. But specifically, when you look at the Kingdom, we believe that AI will represent around 12.4 percent of the total GDP by 2030,” Rizk told Arab News.

“Accordingly, this is where we are investing ahead of the curve, trying to lead and to support the Kingdom’s journey in that direction,” he added.

• CEO of the company forecasts the industry will contribute to 12.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product by 2030.

• The Kingdom is an ideal location for the company to incubate its operations to meet the demand of the entire MEA region, he says.

• Crayon also announced the opening of its Regional Digital Transformation office in Riyadh during the event.

• The company, which helps customers understand software assets and utilize and reduce software costs, already has over 4,500 customers across the MEA region.

Rizk explained that the company will support the sector through multiple areas by leveraging its global expertise in the Kingdom, as well as establishing a local talent pool in collaboration with the government and universities.

“The third pillar is to work with the startup community and the scale-up companies that are really on the cusp of growing exponentially, and helping them branch out beyond the Kingdom, across the Middle East and Africa region,” he added. Crayon also announced the opening of its Regional Digital Transformation office in Riyadh during the event.

Founded in 2002, the company, which helps customers understand software assets and utilize and reduce software costs, already has over 4,500 customers across the MEA region.

Rizk said that Crayon’s existing customer base in Saudi Arabia consists of large businesses and entities ranging across sectors like oil, electricity and aviation.

Lauding the Saudi market, Rizk stated that their customers in the Kingdom were high in expertise as well as agile in pursuing their ambitions. Rizk believes that startup companies will play a huge role in boosting the Kingdom’s AI sector and the company is planning to support them.

“The startup community is really good at identifying a key technical problem, and then putting a lot of focus on solving it, but these companies face challenges on the business side, and this is where we engage with them,” he said.

Crayon was awarded the global partner of Data & AI in 2019 by Microsoft as well as Partner of the Year for Saudi Arabia in 2021.

The company has also seen 180 percent growth year over year and Rizk is expecting this to continue for at least three years.

RIYADH: The Saudi Telecom Co. has developed use cases to enhance digital health and road safety, a senior representative said.

Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the Global AI Summit in Riyadh, Saud Alsheraihi, stc’s product and solutions vice president, said that the use cases will help the company establish a foothold in the artificial intelligence industry.

One of the use cases was to train machines and algorithms to provide diagnoses and predictions on health. “We want to be an example and show examples of the potential that we can do on top of our infrastructure,” he said.

Another use case was road safety predictions, such as predicting what would happen if the speed of a road in Riyadh increased by a certain amount.

“That will help decision makers big time because before they increase the speed limits on that road, they can predict and know exactly what we should do and how we can do that,” Alsheraihi added.

stc, Alsheraihi explained, is embarking on more digital and AI-related projects as a part of its DARE strategy. DARE stands for: Digitize stc, accelerate core asset performance, reinvent customer experience at world-class standards, and expand aggressively scale and scope. stc established it in 2018 with the aim of becoming a digital leader in the world by providing innovative services. “We are here as an extension of our DARE strategy where we are expanding in scope and scale, and one of the areas where we see ourselves in is actually AI,” Alsheraihi said.

As artificial intelligence becomes a part of multiple technologies, stc sees the complementarity of 5G edge computing, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and other services it provides, Alsheraihi said.

stc’s financial and logistics sectors are benefiting from digitization by improving efficiency, increasing revenues, and improving safety and security in their operations, he added.

stc has also created a cybersecurity subsidiary called sirar by stc which offers a comprehensive range of cybersecurity products and services that help businesses manage digital risks effectively, achieve compliance with relevant laws and regulations, and enable a robust and secure digital transformation journey.

Alsheraihi said that sirar focuses mainly on the enterprise sector.

RIYADH: Saudi air carrier flynas has been awarded the Skytrax Award for Best Low-Cost Airline in the Middle East for the fifth time in a row.

The gong, handed out in a forum in London on Sept. 23, is based on a multi-month evaluation that includes more than 100 countries in the largest survey of its kind to measure passengers’ satisfaction in the world each year.

Bander Almohanna, CEO of flynas, said the award reflected his company’s commitment to operational excellence and meeting the aspirations of its traveling guests, in addition to achieving its growth and expansion strategy — which included launching more than 16 new destinations in 2022.

“The crowning of flynas for the fifth year in a row as the Best Low-Cost Airline in the Middle East with the Skytrax Award in the most important global forum for the aviation industry confirms our leadership as a national air carrier that raises the name of the Kingdom high on its National Day, and achieves the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 and the Strategy for the Civil Aviation Sector in KSA,” he said.

Flynas travels to more than 70 domestic and international destinations, and currently operates 38 aircraft — with plans to increase that to 52 by the end of 2023.

Almohanna added: “In addition, flynas Board of Directors approved to increase the purchase order for new aircraft to 250 aircraft, in an effort to participate effectively in achieving the Strategy for the Civil Aviation Sector in KSA, which aims to reach 300 million passengers and connect the Kingdom with 250 international destinations by 2030.”

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s new global airline RIA will be headed up by Etihad's Tony Douglas, Arabian Business reported citing industry sources.

Talks between RIA and Etihad’s CEO were announced on Sept. 8, and now Douglas has agreed to join the new airline after being in charge of UAE's national carrier since 2018.

He also served as CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports Co. between 2013 and 2015 and held senior positions with the British Airport Authority.  

Douglas has nearly 20 years of experience in transportation, infrastructure and government sectors.

The Saudi Public Investment Fund has invested $30 billion in the new airline, which is expected to compete on global routes with Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways. 

The initial launch phase is set to focus on regional routes, using Airbus A320s and Boeing 737Max planes.

Global consulting firm Korn Ferry has begun the process of finding a replacement, the sources said, while Douglas, as understood, has informed Etihad’s shareholders of his decision, but agreed to stay on until a replacement is found. 

The Saudi PIF did not respond to requests for comment, Arabian Business said.

Etihad Airways has reached out to a number of current and former airline CEOs to gauge their interest in being considered for the top job at the carrier, should it become available, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter.

At least three senior aviation figures have been approached by a head-hunting firm, the people said, asking not to be identified for process confidentiality.

The people added that no employment offers have been made and any talks are preliminary.

An Etihad spokeswoman declined to comment, Bloomberg said.