Technology Innovation Institute Appoints Eminent Technologist Dr Ray O. Johnson as CEO
2.8.2021 16:54:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), the overarching advanced technology body in Abu Dhabi responsible for driving research and development for transformative technology outcomes, today announced the appointment of veteran technologist and entrepreneur Dr Ray O. Johnson as Chief Executive Officer. Dr Johnson will work on shaping the strategic direction of the Institute and lead the execution of its growth strategies to achieve operational excellence.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005462/en/
Dr Ray O. Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, Technology Innovation Institute (Photo: AETOSWire)
Prior to joining TII, Dr Johnson was an Operating Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, a top-tier American venture capital company that has been part of 130 IPOs in the last 50 years, and before that, he was the Corporate Senior Vice President for Engineering, Technology, and Operations and Chief Technology Officer of the Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Dr Johnson brings to his role over four decades of experience in global technology leadership, making strategic investments in disruptive technologies, and developing business strategies that resulted in several new billion-dollar lines of business. He also holds outstanding networking capabilities; he has met with leaders at the highest echelons of government, industry, and academia. He is frequently sought after as a speaker at global forums on business, strategy, innovation, and education.
Speaking on the new appointment, His Excellency Faisal Al Bannai, Secretary General of ATRC, said: “We welcome Dr Ray Johnson as the first CEO of Technology Innovation Institute. His appointment is a much anticipated one – we were keen that the person entrusted with this role should not merely be an excellent research and technology specialist, but equally, a consummate professional and industry stakeholder that is capable of ensuring the most positive outcomes for the breakthrough projects TII is currently engaged in across its seven initial dedicated research centres.
“We are confident Dr Johnson will be able to build game-changing synergies for TII as he leads it towards realising its wider goals of growing its talented global team of 375+ researchers, scientists, and engineers, and ensuring the objectives of the current workstreams are met. He will also leverage his vast network to further expand our visibility and reach across markets.”
For his part, Dr Ray O. Johnson said: “I am very excited about this new role in a region that I admire for its dedication to advanced research and development for the betterment of the UAE. Since TII’s inception in November 2020, I have followed its many announcements and achievements with great interest. As it moves into a new phase of growth, I look forward to working with the talented teams of researchers across its centres to drive competitive results and facilitate breakthrough solutions that transition to the market.”
Technology Innovation Institute (TII) is a pioneering global research and development centre that focuses on applied research and new-age technology capabilities. The Institute has seven initial dedicated research centres in quantum, autonomous robotics, cryptography, advanced materials, digital security, directed energy, and secure systems. By working with exceptional talent, universities, research institutions and industry partners from all over the world, the Institute connects an intellectual community and contributes to building an R&D ecosystem in Abu Dhabi and the UAE, reinforces the status of Abu Dhabi and the UAE as a global hub for innovation, and contributes to the broader development of the knowledge-based economy.
For information on Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), visit www.atrc.ae
For information on Technology Innovation Institute (TII), visit www.tii.ae
*Source: AETOSWire
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210802005462/en/
Contact information
Technology Innovation Institute
Hanz Valbuena
hanz.valbuena@tii.ae
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Workiva Advances Regulatory Work with AI Innovation15.9.2026 18:00:00 EEST | Press release
Workiva Inc. (NYSE: WK), a leading, audit-ready platform for trust, transparency, and accountability, unveiled dozens of new product and platform innovations at Amplify 2026, the company’s annual conference attended by thousands of finance, accounting, sustainability, risk, and compliance leaders. Workiva Debuts Agent Studio Workiva introduced Agent Studio, a landmark platform capability that empowers users to quickly build, customize, and deploy AI agents in Workiva's trusted platform. By combining AI reasoning with Workiva's native platform capabilities, enterprise knowledge, and governed workflows, Agent Studio enables users to automate sophisticated manual business processes without writing any code. Organizations can enrich agents with company-specific knowledge and context, tailor them to their own processes, and schedule automations to execute recurring work. “With Agent Studio, we're putting the power to build in the hands of the people who know the work and their company the b
Study: Heatwaves Increase Cough Urge, Which Salt Aerosols Reduce15.9.2026 16:15:00 EEST | Press release
SC Therapeutics, with University North Carolina, Imperial College London, and Boston University, announced publication on Tuesday in Nature Scientific Reports of results from a multi-institutional study indicating that the aridity inherent in heatwaves increases cough hypersensitivity in human airways by collapsing mucus onto cilia in a manner common to chronic respiratory diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, and asthma. The researchers find that alkaline aerosols of magnesium salts reverse mucosal collapse for several hours, and reduce cough hypersensitivity as reflected in placebo-adjusted suppression of daily cough bout rate (59%, p=0.03) and persistence of suppression post treatment for 1 to 3 weeks in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 10 refractory chronic cough patients. “Paris recorded 5,764 excess deaths between 17 June and 2 July, a period of time during which we report atmospheric aridity in the city increased approximately 3-fold relative to the 35 year a
ADM’s Fourth Annual Regenerative Agriculture Report Highlights Growing Resilience Across the Food System15.9.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
ADM (NYSE: ADM), a global leader in innovative solutions from nature, today released its fourth annual regenerative agriculture report, showing how its programs are supporting farmers, strengthening agricultural supply chains and delivering measurable environmental outcomes around the world. “Resilience starts on the farm. By improving and protecting soil health, farmers can be better equipped to adapt to changing conditions and maintain productive operations,” said Greg Morris, SVP and President, Ag Services and Oilseeds, ADM. “That resilience can extend across the value chain, helping strengthen the food system we all depend on.” In 2025, ADM’s regenerative agriculture programs engaged more than 56,000 farmers across approximately 4.6 million acres, 11 countries and 10 crops. Compared with regional benchmarks, the programs resulted in approximately 946,000 metric tons of CO₂e reductions. “ADM views agriculture as a powerful way to meet evolving customer needs, and our work in regener
Diligent Unveils New Agentic Capabilities in Diligent One to Power the Future of Governance, Risk and Compliance15.9.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
Diligent, the AI leader in governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solutions, today announced a major enhancement to Diligent One, its native AI platform, at Gartner’s Enterprise Risk, Audit and Compliance Conference (ERAC). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260915941016/en/ “For many organizations, GRC work is slowed by fragmented systems, manual coordination and time-consuming reporting processes,” said Brian Stafford, President and CEO of Diligent. “Our latest agentic capabilities help teams cut through that complexity by connecting context, surfacing what matters and driving faster execution — while keeping governance and professional judgement at the center." An orchestration agent that coordinates work and approvals The orchestration agent in Diligent One gives GRC professionals a natural-language interface to coordinate audit and risk work. Instead of simply answering questions, it enables users to describe
Unifocus Launches AI-Powered Platform to Transform Workforce and Operations Management in Hospitality15.9.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
The global hospitality technology provider, Unifocus, has announced the launch of its newest AI platform, Unifocus Claira. Unifocus Claira is an industry first end-to-end workforce management and operations platform, purpose-built to give hoteliers and above-property hospitality organizations complete visibility across the workforce lifecycle through one cohesive system. By replacing the patchwork of disconnected tools, multiple technology stacks and siloed data systems that have traditionally been used to manage labor and operations processes, Unifocus Claira delivers one connected AI-native platform, providing customers with a comprehensive and organized view of their workforce and operations data. This unified data foundation powers advanced AI capabilities designed to accelerate decision-making, improve operational performance and drive business growth. Importantly, Unifocus Claira is also the first end-to-end platform of its calibre, purpose-built specifically for the select servi
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom