startAD Launches AI Adoption Tools for UAE Healthcare Sector

Abu Dhabi-based startup accelerator startAD has launched an AI Adoption Barometer and two implementation playbooks to help healthcare and social impact organisations adopt artificial intelligence, offering new insights into how the technology is being deployed across the UAE.

Developed through startAD's AI for Good initiative with support from Google.org, the barometer draws on responses from 52 organisations across the UAE. Among healthcare organisations, 81% have already identified AI use cases, while 58% are piloting or deploying AI solutions. At the same time, 42% said they still operate without a dedicated AI budget, highlighting a gap between adoption and organisational readiness.

To help bridge that gap, startAD introduced two implementation guides: the AI Use Case Discovery Playbook, designed to help teams identify and validate AI opportunities without requiring technical expertise, and the Evaluate and Pilot AI Solutions Playbook, which provides a framework for assessing, selecting and deploying AI solutions within existing operations.

The findings also show that many organisations in the social impact sector remain at an earlier stage of adoption, focusing on defining AI use cases and building internal capacity to support responsible implementation.

To date, startAD's AI for Good programme has engaged five organisations through 13 AI readiness workshops, contributing to a 43% increase in overall AI readiness while mobilising nearly 200 university students and solution builders across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the wider MENA region.