Creativity as National Capital: Expanding the UAE’s Global Leadership through Cultural and Technological Investments

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has invested substantively in both artificial intelligence and cultural development, recognizing these as mutually reinforcing pillars of national progress. However, the social policy dimensions of this dual investment remain underexamined. This commentary argues that cultural and creative investment functions not only as an economic strategy but as a social policy instrument with measurable implications for education, inclusion, and well-being. Drawing on the UAE’s existing policy frameworks and comparative evidence from Finland, South Korea, and the United States, it proposes that embedding the arts more systematically into education and social infrastructure would strengthen the UAE’s development goals, particularly in fostering twenty-first-century skills, social cohesion, and equitable access to cultural participation. The central argument is that creativity, when embedded in policy design, constitutes a form of national capital with direct social returns.