As global demand for more efficient, accessible, and sustainable AI systems grows, compact models capable of delivering high-level reasoning are increasingly viewed as critical to the next phase of AI adoption. Against this backdrop, Abu Dhabi continues to strengthen its position in frontier AI research through a new advancement from the Technology Innovation Institute.

The Technology Innovation Institute, the applied research arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council, has announced the release of Falcon H1R 7B, a next-generation AI model designed to deliver world-class reasoning performance in a compact, energy-efficient, and openly available format. With just seven billion parameters, the model rivals and, in several benchmarks, outperforms much larger open-source systems developed by global technology leaders, including Microsoft, Alibaba, and NVIDIA.

Faisal al Bannai, Adviser to the UAE President and Secretary-General of the Advanced Technology Research Council, said, “Falcon H1R reflects the UAE’s commitment to building open and responsible AI that delivers real national and global value. By bringing world-class reasoning into a compact, efficient model, we are expanding access to advanced AI in a way that supports economic growth, research leadership, and long-term technological resilience.”

Built on the Falcon H1-7B foundation, Falcon H1R 7B integrates a specialised training approach and a hybrid Transformer and Mamba architecture to enhance both speed and accuracy.

“Falcon H1R 7B marks a leap forward in the reasoning capabilities of compact AI systems,” said Dr. Najwa Aaraj, CEO of TII. “It achieves near-perfect scores on elite benchmarks while keeping memory and energy use exceptionally low, critical criteria for real-world deployment and sustainability.”

The model delivered standout results across mathematics, coding, and general reasoning benchmarks, while achieving processing speeds of up to 1,500 tokens per second per GPU.

“This model is the result of world-class research and engineering. It shows how scientific precision and scalable design can go hand in hand,” said Dr. Hakim Hacid, Chief Researcher at TII’s Artificial Intelligence and Digital Research Centre. “We are proud to deliver a model that enables the community to build smarter, faster, and more accessible AI systems.”