SenseTime Establishes Middle East R&D Center
On July 23, 2019, the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) announced it had signed a strategic partnership agreement with Chinese AI company SenseTime to establish the firm’s Europe, Middle East Africa (EMEA) research and development center in Abu Dhabi. The new SenseTime EMEA R&D Headquarters is expected to start operations in 2019, marking the company’s first presence in the EMEA region. SenseTime has attracted scrutiny as a leading facial recognition software company that has ongoing contracts with Chinese law enforcement agencies, as well as a partnership with Leon, a supplier of data analysis technology to authorities involved in the repressive activities taking place in Xinjiang. Sensetime, however, reportedly exited that venture in April 2019.