Abu Dhabi launches smart ring health research partnership

Abu Dhabi: Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) and ŌURA, maker of the world’s leading smart ring, Oura Ring, have announced a joint research programme to study how continuous wearable data can advance preventive health. 

This marks the beginning of a long-term partnership to advance Abu Dhabi’s prevention-first, data-driven healthcare agenda, and will initially focus on women’s health and cardiometabolic risk.

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The collaboration builds on Abu Dhabi’s advanced public health infrastructure and longitudinal health data assets, integrating them with ŌURA’s real-time, continuous insights across key health indicators. 

Together, this creates a strong foundation for understanding health at a population level, enabling the identification of risk factors and supporting a shift from reactive care to more proactive, personalised intervention. 

The depth of Abu Dhabi’s longitudinal data further strengthens its potential as a platform for population health research, offering deeper insight into how conditions such as obesity, prediabetes, cardiovascular disease, and maternal health risks emerge and evolve.

Initially centred around women’s health, the partnership will explore key research pathways focused on preconception health and perinatal care, supporting the development of more targeted early interventions and improving health trajectories for women, families, and the wider population. 

The collaboration will also explore other key areas of health, including metabolic and cardiovascular conditions, with a clear ambition to scale successful insights and interventions beyond initial focus areas over time.

Mansoor Ibrahim Al Mansoori, Chairman of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi said: "The future of health will be defined by sensing and the ability to understand the body continuously, in real-time, and at population scale. Abu Dhabi has built an intelligent health system designed for this shift. Bringing real-world wearable data into the clinical setting, underpinned by strong data governance frameworks that ensure privacy and responsible use of health data.”

Al Mansoori added: “Advancing women's health and fertility is a key priority for Abu Dhabi, and together with ŌURA we are starting where continuous insights have the greatest power to detect risk earlier and create more personalised care across the life course - for mothers, babies, and families.”

Tom Hale, CEO of ŌURA said: “Abu Dhabi is setting a powerful example for how nations can embed prevention and innovation into the future of healthcare. We’re proud to partner with the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi to build a meaningful preventative health model that is grounded in data, scientific rigor and privacy. It’s one of many upcoming initiatives we’re committed to across the region, and an important step in building a deeper, long-term partnership with Abu Dhabi.

‘’We’re starting with women’s health, because the health of women is the health of families, and the health of families is the health of the nation. But this partnership is just the beginning - our ambition is to develop a model here that can inform preventive care globally.’’

The partnership will be supported by a robust data governance framework, including clear protocols for data anonymisation, consent-based data sharing, and secure storage in line with UAE regulations and international best practices. All use of identifiable data will be strictly controlled, with access governed by jointly defined ethical and regulatory standards.

This partnership brings together one of the world’s most advanced population health datasets with continuous wearable insights at scale, creating a unique opportunity to redefine how prevention is delivered in real-world settings.

The agreement marks a significant milestone in ŌURA’s continued expansion across the UAE and wider Gulf region, as the company deepens its presence through strategic partnerships, locally relevant research, and innovation aligned with the UAE’s emergence as a world leader in prevention-led healthcare and long-term wellbeing.

The next phase of the partnership will focus on pilot design, ethics approvals, and local evidence generation, creating a clear pathway toward broader integration within Abu Dhabi’s health system.