UAE royal delegation visits Naver to experience tech convergence

Sheikh Saud Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi of Sharjah Emirates shakes hands with a robot at Naver's 1784 headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Courtesy of Naver

By Baek Byung-yeul

A delegation from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), led by Sheikh Saud Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi of the Sharjah Emirates, visited a high-tech building owned by global tech platform Naver in Bundang south of Seoul, as the Middle Eastern country explores the possibility of cooperating with Korea on digital transformation and infrastructure building at the national level, the company said Monday.

The visit comes as Naver reaches out to Middle Eastern countries to export high-tech products such as robots, artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous driving, cloud computing, digital twin and 5G communication as part of the Korean company's overseas expansion strategies.

Naver said the delegation's visit holds particular significance, since the sheik also heads the Sharjah Digital Office. Sharjah is the third-largest emirate in the UAE.

The members of the royal delegation toured the 1784 building and got a taste of tech convergence that integrates advanced technologies such as robotics, autonomous driving, cloud computing, digital twin and 5G communication.

Sheikh Saud Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi of Sharjah Emirates takes a look at robots at Naver's high-tech headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Courtesy of Naver

The delegation showed particular interest in a language model based on Arabic and Naver's own generative AI service at a time when OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard are creating new business opportunities in many industrial sectors.

“Seeing first-hand the advanced digital infrastructure and technology in Korea has been a great learning experience for Sharjah's digital transformation and infrastructure building,” the sheik was quoted as saying, according to Naver.

“The UAE is very interested in establishing its own digital technologies. With that purpose, they visited Naver's headquarters to explore possible business partnerships because Naver is the leading tech solution provider in many sectors. In many sectors of Naver's digital capabilities, they are interested in our robotics technology and generative AI technology,” a Naver spokesman said.

The 1784 building is the world's first robot-friendly building and tech convergence space that is being visited by prominent figures from around the world.

Last year, a Saudi Arabian delegation led by the country's minister of municipality, rural affairs and housing, which aims for a national level of digital transformation, visited the building, and signed a business agreement with Naver.

Other visitors include the U.S. deputy secretaries of state and homeland security, Singapore's minister of communications and information, Austria's speaker of the House of Representatives and the director-general of the World Trade Organization.

Naver has bolstered relationships with the UAE starting this January when Chae Seon-ju, chief communication officer of the company, accompanied a government delegation to the Middle Eastern country. This was followed by a visit to Naver's 1784 headquarters by Abdulla Saif Al Nuaimi, UAE's ambassador to Korea, in March.