ItInsightsWorld General: ADNOC Gas and ADNOC Upstream Lead Cognite AI Impact Awards Recognition in Abu Dhabi
The regional story for ItInsightsWorld General begins with recognition rather than a product launch: Cognite used its Abu Dhabi stop of the 2026 Impact World Tour to name ADNOC Gas and ADNOC Upstream as AI Impact Awards winners. The session gathered nearly 200 senior leaders from energy, gas, and petrochemical organizations, while looking at how industrial AI can support production workflows, digital twins, and operational efficiency. Earlier tour visits had already included Houston, Oslo, Mumbai, and Tokyo, and more events are planned through the end of the year.
What the AI Impact Awards Program recognized
The AI Impact Awards Program recognizes progress in AI-driven innovation, operational excellence, and use of the Cognite Industrial AI and Data Platform to make asset-heavy operations safer, more sustainable, and profitable. Cognite presents regional winners at World Tour events as part of the agenda’s emphasis on real-world achievement in Industrial AI. This year’s winners in the EMEA region are shown below:
| Recipient | Award | Platform or project | Stated impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| ADNOC Gas | Impact Award for Enterprise Scale | Industrial Data Intelligence (IDI) platform | Continued development and scaling of the Industrial Data Intelligence (IDI) platform strengthens access to contextualized operational data and supports deployment of digital and AI-enabled solutions. |
| ADNOC Upstream | Impact Award for Innovation in Production Optimization | AiPSO project | The AiPSO project turns multi-source operational signals into a single, contextualized data foundation to optimize production workflows and resource efficiency in real time. |
These winners join past Impact Awards honorees including Cognite partners Microsoft, Radix, and Rockwell Automation; as well as Cognite customers Aker BP, Cosmo Energy, International Paper, SLB, and others.
Guest voices on scaling industrial AI
The World Tour agenda included customer perspectives from two organizations advancing Industrial AI adoption:
- Borouge International – Ghalib Al Afifi, Senior Vice President, Global AI & Digital, described how the global petrochemicals company is scaling AI across its global footprint through strategic partnerships and workforce capability building.
- ADNOC Offshore – Dr. Slahadin Al Ashair, Project Manager, Intelligent Operations Centre, explained how its Digital Factory uses Cognite to power more than 11 AI-enabled digital twins through a Reality-Based Prescriptive Analytics (RB-PdsM) approach he helped pioneer.
Closing note on regional commitment
The Abu Dhabi agenda pointed to Cognite’s ongoing regional build-out. Last year brought the incorporation of a dedicated UAE entity, giving Cognite a local base for expertise, technology, and customer support. The move signals Cognite’s focus on customers across the Middle East as the UAE develops a stronger role in applied AI.