Abu Dhabi launches Digital Economy Survey to quantify AI and technology's economic impact

Abu Dhabi launches Digital Economy Survey to quantify AI and technology's economic impact

Statistics Centre – Abu Dhabi has launched the Digital Economy Survey, a new initiative designed to measure the contribution of technology, artificial intelligence and digital business models to Abu Dhabi's economy with greater precision.

The survey targets businesses across critical digital sectors, including e-commerce platforms, financial technology services, software and cloud computing, transport and delivery networks, and data infrastructure. It will collect information on digital revenues, emerging technology adoption and the role of digital business models in economic activity, establishing a statistical foundation to monitor the emirate's digital transformation.

Abdulla Gharib Alqemzi, Director-General of SCAD, said the initiative represents part of the Centre's broader effort to modernise Abu Dhabi's economic measurement systems. The survey complements a comprehensive revision of the emirate's gross domestic product time series announced in May 2026, ensuring official statistics capture the changing structure of the economy and provide decision-makers with accurate data.

The initiative arrives at a moment of substantial economic momentum. Abu Dhabi's economy expanded by 7.7 percent in the third quarter of 2025, with the non-oil sector growing 7.6 percent. In a historic milestone reached in the first quarter of 2025, non-oil activities accounted for 56.2 percent of the emirate's total GDP, surpassing the oil sector's 43.8 percent contribution for the first time.

National digital economy targets

The Digital Economy Survey directly supports the UAE Digital Economy Strategy, launched in April 2022 with over 30 initiatives and programmes targeting six sectors and five new areas of growth. The strategy aims to increase the digital economy's contribution to national GDP from 9.7 percent in 2022 to 19.4 percent within 10 years. Government data shows the digital economy contributed 11.7 percent to the UAE's non-oil GDP in 2022, establishing a baseline from which the country aims to reach 20 percent by 2031.

A UAE Council for Digital Economy, established in April 2022 and chaired by Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Teleworking Applications, oversees implementation of the national strategy.

At the emirate level, Abu Dhabi launched its Digital Strategy 2025-2027, which is expected to contribute over AED 24 billion to the emirate's GDP by 2027 and create more than 5,000 employment opportunities.

Measuring AI's economic footprint

The survey's focus on artificial intelligence reflects the technology's projected economic significance. According to PwC estimates, AI is projected to contribute approximately $96 billion to $100 billion, representing 13.6 percent of the UAE's GDP, by 2030. The UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 sets an even more ambitious target, projecting AI will contribute AED 335 billion to the economy by 2031 across priority sectors including healthcare, transportation, energy, logistics and tourism.

The data collected through the Digital Economy Survey will provide evidence to support economic diversification, enhance competitiveness, attract investment and promote sustainable growth. The initiative follows international best practices, aligning with OECD guidelines for Digital Supply-Use Tables and measurement frameworks that provide methodological standards for digital economy surveys.

By establishing rigorous measurement of digital economic activities, the survey will help ensure Abu Dhabi's official statistics reflect the true scale and impact of technology-driven transformation in the emirate's economy.