UAE government’s Annual meetings which were conducted last year has resulted in a major development in the media sector with the launch of Media Lab by The National Media Council, the regulatory body for the UAE’s dynamic media sector. The Media Lab is launched to unify the media laboratories across the country and to showcase the strategic role in upgrading the national media. NMC’s efforts are to encourage the real talents in the media field and also will help to train them with proper practical expertise.

The idea behind the Media Lab is to prepare the media sector to adapt to the international standards and to compete with the global media in every area. The Lab will extend every possible support to the individuals to stand up to the level of global media. The  Media Lab serves the national agendas of Vision 2021 and the UAE Centennial 2071. Located at the heart of the twofour54 media zone in Abu Dhabi, NMC’s Media Lab targets three categories of promising young media talent; writers, filmmakers and games producers.

NMC is planning to arrange effective and creative programs focusing on all the three categories in consultation with the Youth Media Council and prepare the individuals with training programs and workshops as per their requirements.

 H.E. Mansour Ibrahim Al Mansoori, Director General of NMC said that The Media Lab is a result of the Government’s vision of bringing in more youth in the developmental process of the country and also to support the young people to mold their career. He also added that The lab will enable young talent to contribute to the development of the local media sector, cope up with advancements in the global media industry and spread the message of the UAE ‘s culture and values. This is going to help the lot of budding writers, filmmakers and game producers. The launch of the Lab will also contribute to a set of regulations in the media sector such as the Media Content System, the Media Licensing System, the Age Classification System and the Electronic Media Regulations. The Media Lab is to hold three specialized workshops; the first on filmmaking, in cooperation with the Dubai Film and TV Commission, Faris Film and Al Futtaim Group; the second on the games industry and its development, in cooperation with the Media Zone Authority - Abu Dhabi twofour54, Red, SONY, UbiSoft; and the third on UAE publishers, in association with the Emirates Publishers Association.

The setting up of The Media Lab will pave the way to build up a better media atmosphere in the country and also will help to showcase UAE in the international arena. This will also help the growth of future media and digital platforms in a better way.