SADEQ ALKHOORI (ABU DHABI)
Abu Dhabi’s new Design Commission is more significant than a cultural launch.
Abu Dhabi Media Office (ADMO) said the commission was established to “accelerate the emirate’s creative economy”, “drive innovation” and position the city as a global leader in “design-led innovation”.
The same January 7 announcement linked the commission to design intellectual property, UAE-origin materials, textile innovation, advanced training and sector-aligned capacity building.
ADMO also said the commission would act as “a catalyst for new industries”, generate long-term employment opportunities across design, craftsmanship and material innovation, and align creative industries with economic policy, education and industry. The significance of this language lies in how it places design within a broader economic strategy.
The Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT - Abu Dhabi) says culture and creative industries are “key drivers of social and economic growth and diversification” in the emirate, spanning heritage, crafts and design, publishing, performing arts, visual arts, film and TV, multimedia, gaming and esports. The department also says the sector has a planned outlay of more than Dh30 billion.
That wider platform is already visible in official targets. DCT Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Strategy 2030 plans to raise annual visitor numbers to 39.3 million, increase tourism’s GDP contribution to Dh90 billion, and create 178,000 new jobs by 2030.
These are not design figures in themselves. They show the scale of the ecosystem Abu Dhabi is building around place, experience, culture and talent, all of which can expand design’s practical role.
DCT Abu Dhabi reported that the emirate welcomed a record 26.6 million visitors in 2025. It said hotel revenues rose 19.5% year on year to Dh9.1 billion, MICE delegates increased 40% to 2.2 million, culture and leisure event attendance reached 4.2 million, and more than 8.6 million visits were recorded across cultural sites and libraries.
These figures do not amount to a design economy on their own. They point to a much larger cultural and visitor system in which design can carry more economic and institutional weight.
There are also early signs of the commission moving into activity. In February, ADMO said the Design Commission launched a pottery and ceramics residency with Ginori 1735, describing it as focused on “hands-on making, material experimentation, and skills development”. That gives the design push a more tangible shape, tied to production and capability-building.
For Jonathan Steingiesser, founder of the Human Centred Design (HCD) UAE Meetup, the shift becomes meaningful when design is brought into decisions earlier. “When design moves into economic strategy, it stops being something you apply at the end and becomes something that shapes decisions from the beginning,” he told Aletihad.
Steingiesser said design creates value in public systems, including how parents navigate services and how small businesses move through licensing and support systems. “At that point, design is not just cultural. It becomes infrastructural.”
Brand designer and consultant Reem Arké articulated the same shift in more commercial terms. Design, she told Aletihad, is moving “beyond a niche interest into something that serves a wider economy and a broader audience”.
She said design creates value wherever there is a user, a product or a system, whether in government services, company identity systems or digital products. “It is no longer seen as a cost but as an investment expected to generate real returns."
Taken together, the official language, the economic targets and the expert readings suggest Abu Dhabi is trying to move design closer to production, capability and institutional function.
The question is no longer only how design will be displayed. It is what this design direction says about the city Abu Dhabi wants to build.
Right now, the answer points to a model in which design helps shape institutions, strengthen talent, support industry and create lasting value.