At ADIA, we believe that success in financial markets is directly correlated with our ability to continuously learn and evolve in a dynamic, rapidly changing landscape.

This mindset has served to guide ADIA’s organisational priorities in recent years – from leveraging the full power of our total portfolio, to increasing our organisational agility, and building out our quantitative and data-driven capabilities.

As a global investor, ADIA also continues to actively collaborate with a wide range of external stakeholders on significant issues and themes of shared importance.

When reflecting on ADIA’s key activities in 2023, a number of prominent themes come into focus:

Global action on the energy transition accelerated significantly in 2023, driven by heightened urgency among policymakers, increased international collaboration and a growing recognition within the investment community of its potential as a source of investable opportunities.

In November, the UAE hosted the United Nations COP28 Climate Change Conference, attended by more than 80,000 representatives from almost 200 countries. This resulted in significant new commitments aimed at tackling global carbon emissions. It also provided a catalyst for fresh debate among investors about the evolving and nuanced nature of opportunities now emerging from the energy transition theme.

At ADIA, we view the energy transition process as a unique opportunity to contribute to a solution of global importance, while simultaneously generating long-term returns.

In 2023, ADIA brought together leading figures from academia, the investor community and corporates for the ADIA Energy Transition Summit in Abu Dhabi. The event showcased diverse perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of transitioning to a low-carbon global economy. The insights from these discussions are now being transformed into investable ideas.

Meanwhile, at COP28, ADIA agreed a $100 million repo transaction with the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility (LSF) and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). This facility will support the liquidity of African Sovereign Eurobonds while incentivising Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)-related investments, such as green bonds, in Africa.

Separately, ADIA participated in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) forum held in Abu Dhabi, around the theme of “Investing in Sustainable Development” and served as co-Chair of a working group at the “Summit for a New Global Financing Pact”, in Paris. The working group, which included senior representatives from 60 financial and multilateral institutions, delivered concrete proposals to increase investments in sustainable infrastructure in emerging and developing markets.

It is clear that the energy transition process is becoming increasingly dynamic and nuanced. In just a few years, there has been a dramatic increase in the diversity of investable opportunities, from early to mid and late-stage projects, and across asset classes. ADIA has already invested extensively in energy transition themes, and this will continue. By the end of 2023, ADIA’s investments supported close to 23GW of renewable energy projects, with a further circa 29GW of projects under construction or development.

Technology continues to transform the business of investing, which means new skills are required to capture fast-moving opportunities in increasingly efficient markets.

In recent years, ADIA has accelerated its systematic, science-based approach to investing. Our Quantitative Research & Development team (QRD) develops and implements investment strategies through a peer-reviewed scientific process. QRD, which now numbers approximately 100 experts in areas from quantitative analysis to data science and AI, is also playing a pivotal role in evolving ADIA’s asset allocation process, making it increasingly responsive to fast moving opportunities.

More broadly, ADIA has significantly deepened its data analytics and quantitative investment capabilities across the organisation, particularly in its Core Portfolio and Fixed Income Departments, while deploying new tools to analyse and derive insights from data.

In parallel, ADIA’s middle and back-office teams have been engaged in an ongoing project to enhance and refine how data is managed and presented. This has been pivotal in ensuring the organisation always has the most comprehensive and timely data possible to support decision-making. Meanwhile, ADIA’s support functions are continuously seeking ways to employ new digital tools to simplify administrative tasks and support collaboration. We are also using these tools to identify and recruit the best people to join ADIA.

By embracing technological advancements, ADIA is reinforcing a dynamic mindset that promotes continuous evolution throughout the organisation. This approach enhances our ability to identify and capture opportunities, while empowering our teams to concentrate on generating value.

Abu Dhabi has quickly established itself as a global centre for innovation in artificial intelligence and advanced technologies. A vibrant community of corporates, investors, academics, and entrepreneurs are exploring new ideas at the cutting edge of science, with multiple initiatives underway across numerous inter-related fields.

Against this backdrop, ADIA Lab, an independent research institution focused on data and computational sciences, marked its first full year of operation in 2023, making numerous contributions to Abu Dhabi’s growing digital ecosystem.

ADIA Lab operates at arm’s length from ADIA and is led by an Advisory Board of global thought leaders in data and computationally-intensive disciplines, including winners of the Nobel, Turing, Godel, Rousseeuw, Gordon Bell, and other awards. It is engaged in basic and applied research in data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance and quantum computing, across all major fields of study. This includes exploring applications in areas such as climate change and energy transition, blockchain technology, financial inclusion and investing, decision making, automation, cybersecurity, health sciences, education, telecommunications, and space.

The inaugural ADIA Lab Symposium held in Abu Dhabi in November attracted a range of globally-renowned scientists for a two-day event exploring how data science, blockchain, high performance computing and AI could address challenges in climate and health sciences. A series of open seminars were also held throughout the year, bringing international speakers to Abu Dhabi to share their thoughts with corporates, government departments and students.

Meanwhile, ADIA Lab reached agreement with the Government of Spain to establish its European headquarters in Granada. As part of the agreement, ADIA Lab launched five research programmes with Spanish universities and research institutions. Key areas of focus include analysing data and complex systems in public health, the environment, and the digital economy, as well as high-performance computing and the development of artificial intelligence.

The first ADIA Lab Best Paper Award, an annual competition inviting researchers to address complex challenges through the application of data science, was organised in 2023. The inaugural award focused on causal inference and attracted strong interest from the global data science community, receiving numerous outstanding submissions. The 2024 ADIA Lab Best Paper Award was also launched, focused on climate data science.

An annual machine learning tournament was established focused on causal AI and its real-world applications, while ADIA Lab-affiliated researchers published several peer-reviewed manuscripts with leading scientific publishers.

Through its collaborations with other global thought leaders, ADIA Lab is ideally placed to contribute to the ongoing development of Abu Dhabi as a global digital hub.

Since its inception in 1976, ADIA has embraced a dual responsibility: to deliver financial returns while also developing the skills and experience of UAE National talent.

In the early stages of their careers, we support talented UAE National students with scholarships at prestigious local and international universities – typically in science, technology and mathematics related subjects.

We then encourage them to continue their academic growth in more specialised, technical areas that are becoming increasingly relevant to success in finance.

In 2023, ADIA partnered with Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi to jointly develop a Master’s programme in computational data science. The programme aims to help professionals develop the skills required to make well-informed decisions through the effective use of data.

In addition, ADIA collaborated with Sorbonne University in Abu Dhabi to create a certificate in applied mathematics for finance. This was designed specifically for ADIA employees who plan to pursue a Master's degree in data science and artificial intelligence.

By pursuing learning as a core skillset, ADIA is positioning its people to succeed in what is likely to become an increasingly dynamic investing landscape.