UAE Cyber Security Council and Commvault Open Innovation Centre of Excellence in Abu Dhabi

The UAE Cyber Security Council (CSC) and Commvault (NASDAQ: CVLT) have jointly launched a dedicated Innovation Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Abu Dhabi, marking a significant step in the country's push to build enterprise-grade cyber resilience infrastructure at a national level.

The CoE was unveiled at Commvault's SHIFT Dubai roadshow, held at the Museum of the Future, and is designed to operate as a regional hub for cyber resilience research, innovation, and digital infrastructure protection. The facility provides executive, customer, and partner engagement spaces alongside dedicated workstations and demonstration areas that simulate real-world production environments.

A central feature of the centre is its planned Commvault Readiverse environment, which hosts two flagship simulation experiences: Minutes to Meltdown and Minutes to Recovery. These scenarios place participants inside live cyberattack situations, requiring them to manage compromised backups, execute recovery plans, and rebuild environments under realistic AI-driven threat conditions. Unlike traditional detection-focused approaches, the simulations are designed to build operational muscle memory for post-breach recovery, an area that remains underdeveloped across much of the region.

The partnership also encompasses a talent development programme. Commvault and the CSC will provide university students with access to a structured e-learning curriculum aligned to industry standards, with participants able to earn the Commvault Practitioner Certification upon completion. The initiative is intended to address the UAE's documented shortage of qualified cyber resilience professionals, supporting the broader national cybersecurity workforce agenda.

H.E. Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cybersecurity for the UAE Government, described cyber resilience as a national imperative that requires not just defensive capacity but the ability to recover. He characterised the CoE as a concrete step toward building a digitally sovereign nation capable of withstanding the threats of today and those anticipated in the years ahead. The UAE's National Cybersecurity Strategy has consistently identified recovery capability as a gap requiring structured, infrastructure-backed investment.

Fady Richmany, Corporate Vice President for Emerging Markets at Commvault, said the collaboration combines the company's expertise in operational efficiency and cyber resilience with the strategic leadership of the CSC, with the stated aim of reinforcing the UAE's position as a global leader in cybersecurity innovation.

The CoE will serve government agencies, critical infrastructure operators, and enterprise teams across the UAE, offering simulated environments for rehearsing incident response and data recovery at scale. The announcement follows a period of sustained investment in cyber resilience capability across the region, with the UAE Government Cybersecurity Summit held earlier this month in Abu Dhabi underscoring the policy priority given to securing the country's digital infrastructure against an increasingly sophisticated threat environment.