Panelists pose for a group photo during the event entitled ‘Unveiling the Future: Empowering Qatar’s Startups with AI’ organised by Startup Grind Doha chapter.
Doha, Qatar: Qatar has already established a National AI Strategy which is focused on six pillars - education, data access, employment, business, research, and ethics that together will guide Qatar towards the transition to an AI future. This has been established under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
Startup Grind Doha chapter organised an event entitled ‘Unveiling the Future: Empowering Qatar’s Startups with AI’ at Workinton Qatar which brought together startup founders, investors, academia and eco system enablers from the private and public sector. The conversation at the Startup Grind event, emphasised on the criticality, readiness and the urgency in how Qatar navigates AI was very much in line with what the national strategy outlines.
Addressing the panel discussion Firas Sleiman, Founder & CEO, TEN, said, AI has been around for over two decades, but the new human-like AI chatbots have stolen the attention of the masses lately. To fully harness the power of AI, startups and enterprises should look under the hood, beyond the chatbot. They need to understand how AI works, involve AI experts, find the right AI expert models (for example, fintech AI or healthcare AI) relevant to their industry and products, and incorporate them into the way they do business to accelerate and empower their journey.
He added, this is exactly what TEN offers. A platform which allows our clients to easily setup and configure AI inside their organization with no technical knowledge, and start producing value, content, documents, applications, services and any other media, and automating complex business tasks through AI within days.
According to Chady Haddad - Data & AI Lead, Microsoft Middle East said, “At Microsoft, we firmly believe that pioneering, innovative startups hold the key to unlocking new, disruptive solutions for organisations across industries leveraging transformative technologies such as AI. Through initiatives like our Microsoft for Startups Founders’ Hub and investments such as our cloud region in Qatar, we are dedicated to empowering startups in Qatar with access to technology, knowledge, and market opportunities to innovate and scale their businesses in the cloud. Let’s collaborate to shape the future together and drive more innovation from Qatar to the world.”
Also speaking during the event, Dr. Yaser Bishr, Venture Partner from Rising Tide, said, “AI isn’t merely a technological trend; it’s a cornerstone of the future. While the world grapples with its implications, there lies an unparalleled opportunity for Qatar to lead the region. Every stakeholder in Qatar — innovators, investors, and the government alike — must harness AI’s potential to chart a pioneering path.”
“Readiness and Qatar’s collective responsibility to prepare and propel itself to the forefront is paramount. Events like today’s, focusing on fortifying Qatar’s startups with AI, are more than mere discussions—they’re catalysts. They spark rich exchanges of diverse insights and pave the way for innovation. Now, more than ever, swift action is essential, lest we lose this momentum to establish Qatar as the beacon of AI excellence in the region,” he added.
For his part Dr. Chawki Tawbi - CTO and Data & AI Lead, Google Cloud Qatar, shared specific information related to how startups can benefit from specific Google Cloud initiatives that
are available for startups.
He noted that Google Cloud is committed to supporting startups in Qatar to build the future of AI in the region and the world.
He emphasised that “as an organisation we believe Qatar is set to lead innovation in the region, and we are excited to be a part of it.” The objective of Startup Grind is to bring the ecosystem in Qatar together.
While it creates an opening for everyone to learn from each other, it also leads to invaluable networking opportunities. The panel discussion was moderated by Bashar Jaber, founder of Jeeb. The event also saw founder and CEO of Qatari startup, Urban Point, Saif Qazi sharing an update on their latest AI innovation that runs on the Urban Point platform.
