The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated Mubadala Investment Company’s pivot to new technologies and geographies, as it looks to double down on investments in clean energy and mobility, its group chief executive said.

“What Covid has done essentially, is supercharged that move [to diversify],” Khaldoon Al Mubarak told a virtual panel discussion during the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit on Saturday.

“The way we operate, the way we invest, the way we … look like as Mubadala, is changed, and is changing [further] from pre-Covid era to post-Covid era.”

Even before the pandemic, Mubadala was gradually increasing its investment in renewable energy, energy storage, mobility, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence and connectivity. The Covid-19 outbreak proved moving away from traditional investment was correct and Mubadala is “on the right path”, Mr Al Mubarak said.

Mubadala, which has been investing in green energy for the past decade, sees further growth opportunities in the sector. Abu Dhbai executed about 80 per cent of the installed solar energy capacity in the entire Gulf region and Mubadala, along with the emirate’s clean energy company Masdar, have been a big part of that, he said.

“We are going to continue to expand into this space as this is a space, which is clearly going to grow,” Mr Al Mubarak said. The company is also interested in hydrogen energy investments.

“These things take time – renewable [energy] took us 10 years to get where we are today … with hydrogen, I think the journey is [starting] now,” he said, adding that the company has had many discussions with global partners such as Siemens.

The German industrial giant is the world’s biggest renewable energy provider with about 110 gigawatts of installed capacity globally.

Joe Kaeser, Siemen’s president and chief executive, who took part in the panel discussion, said hydrogen energy is the future.

He supported Mr Al Mubarak’s investment case, saying, that solar power will remain in play as more efficiencies could be found in the sector. However, “the next big thing in energy … that is very clear” is going to be hydrogen platforms, he said.

With an asset base of Dh853 billion, Mubadala invests on behalf of the Abu Dhabi government and is at the heart of the emirate’s plans to diversify its revenue base and generate income from sources other than oil.

The pandemic, Mr Al Mubarak said, has changed the way businesses operate globally and it has “dramatically and substantially” moved Mubadala into the digital age.

“This is the time in which we have been focused, we have been diligent, we have been active, we have been deploying capital and finding [new] opportunities and really shifting our portfolio into the direction that we were planning to go,” he said.

The financial intervention by governments such as liquidity injections and trillions of dollars’ worth of stimulus packages have created a positive reaction, particularly in the large economies around the world. However, getting back to a more stable period of economic activity, and visibility into business growth, will take time, he said.

Businesses will have to learn how to adapt to the new realities in the post-Covid-19 world and only those who can pivot will survive, he added.

“For people that think post Covid things are going to go back to normal – if you think that way then I think you are finished,” he said. “The world has changed, and you have to evolve. And I think the companies and countries and individuals that are able to pivot and really look at this new world will be the ones that succeed.”

Economies around the world have moved on from the commodity and financial market turmoil, shutdowns, and the surge in Covid-19 infections and mortalities. However, risks remain as more waves of the pandemic are likely to hit, but the world is also getting closer to developing vaccines, he said.

“There is going to be a vaccine and [that] vaccine is going to be sooner rather than later,” he said.

“I would say we are close now. There will be multiple vaccines in my view and they will be coming one by one in months not in years. We are talking about anywhere between two to eight months.”

Mubadala’s portfolio of investments spans five continents with interests in aerospace, information and communications technology, semiconductors, metals and mining, renewable energy, oil and gas and petrochemicals.