Tech News
PlanRadar Research Highlights Project Delivery Risks for UAE Construction Teams Ahead of 2027
PlanRadar, a leading platform for digital documentation, communication and reporting in construction and real estate projects, has highlighted key project delivery risks facing construction teams as activity across the UAE continues to grow.
PlanRadar’s Construction Survey Report 2026: Managing Project Changes in the Age of AI surveyed 1,728 construction professionals responsible for on-time and on-budget delivery across 14 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The findings were also explored in PlanRadar’s webinar, Managing Mid-Project Changes in the Age of AI.
The research comes as UAE construction output is projected to reach US$130.8 billion by 2029, up from a record US$107.2 billion in 2024, according to Knight Frank. As project volumes and stakeholder complexity increase, the ability to manage changes, approvals and project records efficiently will remain central to delivery performance.
One of the clearest concerns identified in PlanRadar’s research is the impact of delayed approvals and slow responses. These were the most common pain points reported in the management of mid-project changes, including RFIs, change orders and variation requests. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said approvals are often received after agreed timeframes, while one in four estimated that delayed approvals typically add more than a month to project timelines.
Among teams where approvals are almost always late, month-long project delays were more than twice as likely as among those where late approvals are rare.
Ibrahim Imam, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of PlanRadar, said: “In a market delivering projects at the UAE’s current pace, small delays in decision-making can quickly become much larger delivery problems. Going into 2027, companies need clearer ownership, predefined approval routes and faster access to the information decision-makers need. The aim is not to eliminate change—change is inevitable—but to ensure every change is visible, traceable and acted on before it affects programme or cost.”
PlanRadar’s findings also show the financial impact of unmanaged changes. Two in three respondents said that mid-project changes lead to budget overruns in many or most of their projects. However, the research indicates that stronger process control can improve outcomes: four in five respondents using a central digital tool to track changes reported an improved ability to control costs or protect project margins.
Information fragmentation is another challenge. Nearly eight in ten respondents said that at least half of their project documentation is spread across unconsolidated channels, including emails, messages, phone calls and verbal instructions. Among those who could easily locate documentation, 70% felt confident that their records clearly showed responsibility for delays and cost impacts—double the proportion among those who found documentation difficult to locate.
Administrative workload compounds these pressures. Nearly half of respondents reported spending 11 or more hours each week on administrative tasks. Among those using a central digital tool with integrated AI functionality, two in three said they save at least two hours per week, per project, on administration and coordination.
Andrey Belogortsev, Regional Manager for MENA and APAC at PlanRadar, said: “The immediate opportunity for construction teams is to build reliable, connected workflows around the information already being generated on site. When changes, approvals and supporting evidence are captured in one accessible record, teams can identify issues earlier, engage the right people faster and maintain accountability throughout the project lifecycle.”
“AI can add real value when it is applied to repetitive, time-consuming work within those controlled workflows. It should support professional judgement—not replace it—by giving project teams more time to focus on decisions, risks and exceptions that require their expertise.”
The survey found that 58% of respondents believe AI can reduce workload across their biggest day-to-day challenges, while 65% believe it can streamline major administrative tasks.
Building on this need, PlanRadar has introduced AI Agents, allowing customers to create agents in plain language or use ready-made options to complete defined actions. Each action is logged, attributed and limited to the permissions of the user who created the agent, enabling teams to automate routine work while retaining oversight and control.
Tech News
Huawei Unveils Full-Scenario Intelligent Oil & Gas Solutions, Upgrading the Industrial Chain with AI-Native Applications
Huawei showcased its full-scenario intelligent oil & gas solutions in the AI Zone at the 42nd Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC 2026), held from November 2 to 5 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) in the UAE. The company shared its vision and real-world cases for redefining oil & gas productivity through a framework that combines a data foundation, large models, and AI agents. As one of the world’s most important annual gatherings for the energy industry, this year’s event focused on energy security and supply resilience, accelerated adoption of AI, and infrastructure upgrades.
Jiang Wangcheng, CEO of Huawei’s Oil, Gas and Mining Business Unit (BU), addressed global energy customers and partners, outlining Huawei’s vision and strategy for the intelligent transformation of the oil & gas industry. He noted that, driven by the rapid adoption of AI, the global oil & gas industry is entering a critical phase of intelligent transformation. By integrating data, connectivity, and AI, Huawei is building robust ICT infrastructure and applying AI to core business scenarios such as exploration and production. In practice, AI-powered large-model full-waveform inversion has boosted seismic data processing efficiency by 10 times, AI-driven code refactoring has cut module migration time from three weeks to one day, and computer vision (CV) models have raised the accuracy of high-risk scenario alarms to over 90%.
Deng Bi, President of Huawei’s Oil & Gas BU, shared how AI can drive intelligent transformation across the full oil & gas value chain—from exploration and development to production and safe operations. He highlighted Huawei’s achievements in AI-driven exploration, intelligent oilfield development, and safety production management, and explained how the “Huawei + Partners” ecosystem translates technical capabilities into business value for industry customers.
Deng Bi, President of Huawei Oil & Gas BU, delivering a keynote speech
Pu Qiang, Director of Huawei’s Pipeline Network and City Gas BU Solution Sales Dept, gave an on-site interview on how AI empowers intelligent pipeline operations. He noted that Huawei uses a cloud-pipe-edge-device architecture, distributed fiber optic sensing, and AI technologies to enable round-the-clock risk perception for pipelines. These solutions have been deployed across more than 30,000 kilometers of oil & gas pipelines, upgrading pipeline safety operations toward intelligent perception and autonomous decision-making.

Pu Qiang, Director of Huawei’s Pipeline Network and City Gas BU Solution Sales Dept, being interviewed
Li Rui, Solution Director of Huawei’s Chemical & Building Materials BU, shared Huawei’s intelligent chemical solutions and practices in the Chinese market and discussed their application prospects in the Middle East and beyond. He introduced the time-series large model and the autonomous operation solution jointly developed by Huawei and a partner for process industries, along with real-world cases of advancing autonomous operations with minimal or even zero on-site staff for petrochemical and chemical units.

Li Rui, Solution Director of Huawei’s Chemical & Building Materials BU, sharing partner practices
During the panel discussion, Ghassan El Rayah, Solution Director at Huawei Middle East, discussed pathways to autonomous oilfields—from data insights to AI-driven autonomous decision-making and action. He shared AI applications in reservoir management, drilling optimization, production scheduling, and equipment O&M.

Ghassan El Rayah, Solution Director at Huawei Middle East, participating in a roundtable discussion
Faisal Malik, Solution Director at Huawei Middle East & Central Asia, delivered a keynote on the coming convergence of AI agents and computing infrastructure. He explained how Huawei is building a computing foundation for the oil & gas industry, highlighting high-performance computing (HPC), distributed storage, and data center networking solutions tailored for the energy industry to support large-model training and inference, real-time industrial control, and massive data processing.

Faisal Malik, Solution Director at Huawei Middle East & Central Asia, delivering a keynote speech
Huawei Booth: Showcasing All-Scenario Intelligent Oil & Gas Solutions
The AI Zone at ADIPEC is focused on the convergence and innovation of AI and the energy industry. At this year’s event, Huawei showcased a suite of intelligent solutions spanning exploration, development, production, pipeline storage and transportation, and refining, alongside ICT infrastructure innovations including TaiShan HPC, Atlas AI computing, high-performance storage, and full-scenario networks. The exhibit highlighted Huawei’s “connectivity + cloud + computing + AI” technology foundation and intelligent applications co-created with ecosystem partners to empower the digital and intelligent transformation of oil & gas enterprises worldwide.

Huawei booth in the AI Zone
During ADIPEC 2026, Huawei delivered a clear message about the industry’s intelligent transformation trends and its own positioning through multiple activities:
- AI is moving from proof of concept to production practice: AI is evolving from an auxiliary tool into a new type of “worker” capable of entering production systems and executing closed-loop tasks, driving the industry from experience-driven to data-driven and autonomous operations, and becoming a new form of productivity.
- Collaborating with partners to help customers shift from building systems to driving productivity: Huawei works with partners to drive the transformation from single-point information applications to a systematic overhaul of all-domain digitalization, using intelligence to boost productivity across the entire industrial chain.
- Supporting industry-wide intelligent transformation with a digital and intelligent foundation: From exploration, development, production, pipeline storage and transportation, to refining and sales, Huawei delivers “connectivity + cloud + computing + AI” technology to support the intelligent transformation of the entire industrial chain.
Huawei believes that the oil & gas industry is gradually moving from the informatization and digitalization phase of “seeing and connecting” to an intelligence phase that places greater emphasis on business applications and value creation. Looking ahead, Huawei will continue to work with global customers and partners to drive the intelligent transformation of the oil & gas industry, helping it achieve safe, efficient, green, and smart development.
Tech News
GITEX Global at Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC) – Expand North Star
About The Event
Expand North Star – the world’s largest startup & investor connector event – returns alongside GITEX Global at Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC), Expo City Dubai.
One week. One venue. One mega ecosystem of ideas, innovation and investment opportunities.
Starting with the Summit on 7 December at Dubai World Trade Centre, North Star gathers the global startup ecosystem in one place. From 8-10 December at DEC, founders, investors, enterprises and policymakers come together to spark partnerships, investment and growth.
🔥WHAT’S NEW IN 2026:
📈 Scale.iT – Inspired by Proud of UAE campaign, Scale-It is a new flagship destination at Expand North Star connecting government, corporates, investors, ecosystem leaders and startups to showcase the programmes, opportunities and companies driving the UAE innovation economy.
🎓ENS Founders Academy – A 3-day founder development experience connecting founders with investors, operators and unicorn builders through three specialized labs covering the complete startup journey, from idea to exit.
⭐ENS26 Backers Pitch – Investors take center stage pitching startups they already back to other investors, creating new opportunities for collaboration and co-investment.
🎟️The Founder’s Pass – A limited-edition opportunity designed for founders who want maximum visibility with minimum investment: one day pod, with full benefits across all 3 days of the event (eligibility for Supernova, investor meetings, access to conferences).
🚀 Supernova 0X – Expand North Star flagship competition evolves to a stage-based competition format. Founders pitch in relevant competitive groups competing for a growth package prize.
🧬GITEX Healthtech – This new feature brings together founders building, AR/VR hardware, smart health devices and lifestyle tech designed to scale.
🌍APOLLO100 – a new platform where we flip the order and give international hubs the opportunity to pitch their services to expansion-ready startups, creating a global network for market entry, and direct connections.
The future of entrepreneurship is being built now. Secure your place at Expand North Star 2026 and join the founders, investors, and technology leaders shaping what comes next.
Expand North Star | 8-10 December 2026 | Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC), Expo City Dubai
For more information, visit expandnorthstar.com.
Tech News
Prodigi Connect and Lokanima Partner to Bring Fun Cican to Animation
Prodigi Connect, a Dubai-based AI video production company, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Lokanima, an Indonesian creative venture, to develop Fun Cican, an established children’s property built around music and characters, into animated content. An earlier attempt to animate Fun Cican was halted because conventional production proved too slow and costly.
The agreement comes as Prodigi Connect expands its push to bring AI-native production to the Gulf’s advertising and content market, where it already delivers campaigns for brands in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
“Most of what we make is brand and campaign work, and we are already doing that for clients here in the UAE and in Saudi Arabia,” said Lijo Ittoop, Founder of Prodigi Connect. “We took on a full animated character because it is the hardest thing you can ask this technology to do. If it holds up there, every brief in between becomes straightforward.”

Under the memorandum, Prodigi Connect provides the production pipeline, workflow and quality standards, while Lokanima brings the intellectual property relationship, local creative direction and access to Indonesian production talent. A first sequence has been produced and is available to media on request.
“Indonesia has the creative talent and the studios. What they need is faster tools and a bigger market. By working with Prodigi Connect, Lokanima brings India’s AI production expertise to Indonesia’s creative industry, so our studios can upskill, take on more work from brands and agencies, and build their own IP. We see this as the start of an India–Indonesia corridor for creative content,” said David Santoso, CEO, Singhasari SEZ.
For brands and agencies, AI-native production changes the economics of making content. Concepts reach finished film in days rather than weeks, at a fraction of conventional cost. One production can yield many versions across platforms, formats and audiences. Campaigns can run in Arabic and English with the same characters and treatment, and formats such as animation and CGI become viable for brands that could never justify them.
“The constraint on advertising has never been ideas,” said Lijo. “It has been what they cost to make and how long they take. Change that and the brief changes with it.”
Prodigi Connect delivers content for clients including Damas, Grundfos, Ascensia and Brooklyn Ice Cream, alongside campaign work across more than 20 countries. It does so as Dubai builds its position as a place where content is produced, not only distributed.
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