Oura makes first hires in UAE as it launches its first Abu Dhabi health pilot

Smart ring maker Oura is building an on-the-ground presence in the UAE and has made its first local hires as it launches the first research project under its partnership with Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health (DoH), Oura SVP of Science Shyamal Patel tells EnterpriseAM. The company has hired two scientists to support its UAE research, both PhD holders who have previously done research in the Middle East. “They understand how research works, and the specific problems and questions that are important to this region,” Patel said.

Oura is “actively working on” setting up an office and will have staff based in Abu Dhabi, Patel said. He did not put a figure on the company’s investment in the UAE or say how large the local team will grow.

Oura’s first project in the UAE: A 24-month pilot testing whether data from the Oura Ring can give early warning of spontaneous premature birth, according to a press release (pdf). The study, called Project Cradle, is the first of three pilots under the broader partnership, which was signed in May and focuses on using wearable technology for preventive health care.

The details: The project will focus on women with elevated-risk pregnancies, tracking heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep, and activity, which researchers will pair with clinical outcomes and with Abu Dhabi’s clinical and genomic data. The aim is to find a reliable signal ahead of preterm labor in an individual woman, early enough to guide treatment and care.

Scouting local partners: Oura has spent the months since signing the initial partnership with the DoH finding clinical, research, and technology partners in the emirate. Corniche Hospital and Mediclinic Airport Road are the clinical partners for the first study. Oura is also establishing a partnership with the Institute of Healthy Living Abu Dhabi for a separate study it plans to launch. Abu Dhabi health giant PureHealth has also come on board as a technology and health system partner, Patel said.

The sample size is still being finalized, but Oura wants to capture “several hundred” preterm births, which means recruiting two to three times as many women. “It’s going to be quite an ambitious project,” Patel said, adding that preterm birth is an under-researched area. The study will be open to the wider population living in the UAE, not only Emiratis.

Adding genomic data gives a fuller picture of each participant’s risk, Patel said. “You need to understand the phenotype, the genotype, and the environment of an individual in order to fully characterize their health.” The ring captures physiology and behavior, while genetic data can point to inherited risk factors.

The study will run within DoH’s data governance and Trusted Research Environment framework, with Oura’s team of more than 50 in-house MDs and PhDs leading the analysis of the wearable data. It starts in the coming weeks, with results expected in 2028.

What’s next: Oura’s agreement with Abu Dhabi initially targets women’s health, including preconception and perinatal care, so the next two pilots will also focus on women’s health, including pregnancy and fertility, as well as cardiometabolic health, Patel said.

The UAE push comes weeks after Oura postponed its planned Nasdaq IPO on 29 September, citing uncertainty in the IPO market. The company says it is profitable.

Zooming out

The partnership fits Abu Dhabi’s drive to draw global health and life sciences firms to the emirate. In April 2025, it launched the Health, Endurance, Longevity, and Medicine (HELM) cluster, led by the Department of Economic Development, the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), and DoH. HELM is a platform for the research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of biotech, new medicines, medtech, and digital health.

The cluster is projected to attract more than AED 42 bn in investment, add AED 94 bn to Abu Dhabi’s GDP, and create 30k jobs by 2045. ADIO offers business support to companies that set up in the cluster. Partners include MBZUAI and Hub71 on AI-driven research and venture funding, alongside new life sciences labs at Masdar City.