Today's Edition
SARA ALZAABI (ABU DHABI)
The UAE’s push towards a fully digital, AI-enabled, and data-driven government must be underpinned by an equal focus on sustainability, sovereignty, and digital trust, according to experts taking part in the UAE Data Centre Infrastructure & Cloud Summit 2026.
Held on Thursday at the Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers, the event brought together government leaders and technology providers to explore the next generation of digital infrastructure, sovereign cloud, AI-ready ecosystems, and cybersecurity resilience in the UAE.
In his opening address, Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security for the UAE Government, highlighted the rapid growth of data centres, cloud adoption, and AI-enabled services across the UAE, stressing that resilience, cybersecurity, and collaboration are essential to sustaining the country’s digital ambitions.
“We have set the goal of being a model, of being a great model that is not only for the UAE, but also for the whole world,” he said.
Dr Al Kuwaiti emphasised that strong partnerships and resilient infrastructure will be critical to supporting this growth. “One most important pillar is the partnership. We cannot do this ourselves,” he said.
Highlighting the importance of digital trust and cyber resilience, he added: “Those attackers do not distinguish between country, between entity, between any of those aspects. It is very important that you build up that resilience.”
Speaking to Aletihad on the sidelines of the event, experts outlined how the UAE can balance rapid growth of AI with sustainability, sovereignty, and digital trust.
Rashed Aleghfeli, Chief Operating Officer, Neurovia AI, noted that trust must be embedded in the foundations of digital infrastructure rather than treated as an afterthought. “Efficiency alone is not enough. Trust must be built into every layer of the system,” he said.
This requires strong data integrity, zero-trust security architecture, protection against emerging AI threats, and ensuring that critical national data remains under local control and governance, he noted.
“The philosophy is simple: trusted data creates trusted AI, and trusted AI creates trusted decisions,” he said.
Aleghfeli added that the next phase of technological development will be driven less by advances in AI models and more by the infrastructure supporting them. “The question is no longer whether AI will transform our cities, industries, and governments. The question is whether the infrastructure supporting AI is ready for that transformation,” he said.
Stronger Data Governance Frameworks
Piyush Mehta, CEO of Data Dynamics, said organisations must ensure that rapid technological growth does not come at the expense of sustainability, sovereignty, or public confidence.
“As the UAE accelerates AI, cloud, and digital infrastructure adoption, the real challenge is not speed alone; it is scaling innovation while protecting sustainability, data sovereignty, and digital trust,” he said.
Mehta stressed that stronger data governance frameworks will be needed to support secure AI adoption and cloud transformation, especially as organisations manage growing volumes of data across increasingly complex digital environments.
“The UAE’s digital future depends on trusted data,” he said.
He added that data environments must be capable of supporting sovereignty requirements, compliance obligations, and long-term sustainability goals.
Data Governance
Dalia Tawfeek, Chief Business Officer at Data Dynamics, said trust and governance will become increasingly important as organisations seek to balance innovation with public confidence. “This value becomes even more relevant as organisations seek to align innovation with public confidence,” she said.
According to Tawfeek, the next phase of AI leadership will depend not only on computing power but also on how effectively organisations govern and manage their data. “For UAE organisations, the path to AI leadership is not just about more compute; it is about better governed data,” she said.
She added that organisations that successfully combine innovation with governance, sovereignty requirements, and digital trust will be best positioned to lead the next phase of digital transformation.
“In the UAE, the next phase of digital leadership will belong to organisations that make data governance a strategic advantage,” she said.
Sustainability and Resilience
Marc Nasr, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), said the UAE’s approach to balancing digital growth with sovereignty, trust and sustainability is rooted in building capabilities.
“On sovereignty and how the UAE is handling it, I think the country is handling it by ensuring that it is integrating everything across the technology and AI stack,” he said.
According to Nasr, the country is simultaneously developing physical and digital infrastructure while creating sovereign AI use cases that sit on top of these foundations.
He noted that sovereignty is only one part of the equation. Building trust requires ensuring that citizens and businesses are confident that emerging technologies are being deployed in their best interests. “This is really where the awareness comes in, where the supporting policies and guidelines come in,” he remarked.
Nasr also highlighted sustainability and resilience as equally important priorities, noting that the UAE has continued to expand digital adoption despite regional challenges.
