Agentic AI Joins the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Award

Dubai Chambers has added an Agentic AI category to the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Award, extending the programme to Dubai-based private companies that have put autonomous AI systems into live operation and can show what those systems changed.

Eligibility is not restricted by sector. Any private company operating in Dubai can enter, provided it has moved beyond initial testing and deployed agentic AI across its business operations. The category targets deployments that lifted productivity, automated workflows, supported decisions or improved operational efficiency — work in production rather than work in a sandbox.

What the category looks for

Agentic AI systems perform tasks, coordinate workflows and assist decision-making with a degree of autonomy. That latitude explains the conditions attached to the category. Applicants must demonstrate human oversight of the systems, along with cybersecurity and governance measures around them.

Entries are scored on four criteria: Agentic AI Talent Readiness; Agentic AI Implementation and Successful Use Cases; Cyber Security Alignment; and Measurable Business Results.

The evaluation tests a company's ability to adopt and scale agentic AI, the effectiveness of the applications it has built, its compliance with cybersecurity requirements, and the gains it can document in productivity, business growth, customer experience and sustainability. The insistence on deployment separates this from competitions judged on prototypes: an entry has to show the technology working inside existing processes, with evidence to match.

Submissions follow the same assessment process used across the award. An independent panel of expert judges evaluates each application. Shortlisted companies present their use cases, and from that shortlist one winner is selected.

Inside a wider programme

The category sits within an Agentic AI transformation programme for Dubai's private sector, which Dubai Chambers oversees. The programme follows directives from Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, UAE Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai. Its stated purpose is faster adoption of agentic AI across the business community, with companies encouraged to bring the technology into administrative and operational processes rather than leave it at the edge of the organisation.

Companies are expected to fold the technology into day-to-day administration and operations as part of the programme, not to run it as a separate innovation project. The judging structure reflects that expectation, with implementation and successful use cases carrying their own criterion alongside talent readiness.

Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, President and CEO of Dubai Chambers, called agentic AI a key driver of business competitiveness, innovation and growth. He said the organisation is committed to responsible and effective adoption by the private sector that raises productivity, transforms business models and creates sustainable economic value.

Lootah framed business excellence awards as a means of fostering innovation, showcasing successful experiences, encouraging best practices and strengthening Dubai's position as a global business and digital-economy hub. The new category, he said, is intended to recognise excellence in applying agentic AI and turning its potential into tangible business results. Publicising those achievements is meant to inspire the wider business community and draw out applications that drive growth, lift performance and improve private-sector readiness.

Four categories, two decades

The addition brings the award to four categories. The Outstanding Business Award is sponsored by Dubai Chambers. The Family Business Award is sponsored by Dubai Chamber of Commerce. The Global Expansion Award is sponsored by Dubai International Chamber. The Agentic AI category is sponsored by Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy.

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Award dates to 2005 and operates under the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives. It is held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and recognises business excellence, innovation and continuous improvement. The new category adds an explicit emphasis on practical AI adoption in the private sector.

Where oversight sits

Scoring cybersecurity and human oversight alongside commercial results is the part of the design most likely to shape the field. Agentic systems act on their own to a degree, which makes control and auditability part of the product rather than an afterthought. A company that can show both — autonomous execution and a documented chain of oversight — has something different from one running an assistant that suggests but does not act.

For Dubai Chambers, the measure of the category will be whether the winning entries persuade other firms in the emirate to move their own agentic AI work out of testing and into daily operation.