agenda
Stay tuned for ongoing updates on speakers and event activities
Main Stage
8:00 am
Doors Open
10:00 am
/function1 Opening Speech: "Igniting MENA’s AI Transformation"
10:20 am
Keynote ‣ Fighting AI with AI
10:45 am
Panel ‣ The Doom of AI Startups? Making Predictions While BigTech Overflows the Market
11:20 am
Panel ‣ The Skillset of Tomorrow: Preparing for Jobs That Don’t Yet Exist
11:55 am
Keynote ‣ Autonomous Agents. You are here.
12:15 pm
Panel ‣ From Mad Men to Machine Minds: The New Creative Director Is an Algorithm
12:45 - 1:45 PM
Lunch Break
1:50 pm
Panel ‣ Proactive AI in Customer Service: Predicting Clients' Needs With Hyper-Personalization
2:25 pm
Keynote ‣ From Brain-Inspired to Brain-Executed. Unveiling the First Brain-Based Foundational Model
2:45 pm
Keynote ‣ AI-Driven Innovation in Space Communications and Connectivity
3:05 pm
Keynote ‣ Redefining your business
3:25 pm
Panel ‣ From Corporate Fraud Prevention to Personal Wealth Management: Exploring AI in Finance
4:00 pm
Keynote ‣ Beyond Agentic AI: The Rise of Constitutional and Collective Intelligence
4:20 pm
Panel ‣ Solving MENA-Specific Needs with Purpose-Specific AI: Sharing Usecases Across Industries
4:55 pm
Panel ‣ Teaching With AI, Teaching About AI: Laying the Basis for Tech-Savvy Humanity
5:30 pm
Day 1 Closing Remarks
5:45 pm
Networking at /function1
8:00 am
Doors Open
10:05 am
Welcome Remarks by the Organizers
10:25 am
Panel ‣ Global AI Governance: Can Public and Private Leaders Align?
11:00 am
Panel ‣ Software 3.0: How AI Transforms Development and Developers
11:35 am
Keynote ‣ What the Data tells us about the State of AI Funding
11:55 Am
Fireside chat ‣ How AI Creates Both New Threats and Opportunities for Cybersecurity
12:30 pm
Keynote ‣ Beyond AI Agent Hype - The Key Metric Driving AI Agent Implementation Success
12:45 - 1:45 PM
Lunch Break
1:50 pm
Fireside chat ‣ Beyond Clicks: Humanizing Growth in the Age of AI
2:20 pm
Fireside chat ‣ The Gemini Difference: Multimodality & Long Context
2:50 pm
Keynote ‣ Sustainable AI: Minimizing Environmental Impact While Meeting Industry Goals
3:10 pm
Keynote ‣ Beyond Brute Force: Unlocking Global AI Efficiency Through Smarter Training
3:30 pm
Panel ‣ MENA’s AI Race: Bold Bets for 2030
4:05 pm
Panel ‣ AI Education: Will MENA’s Youth Outcode the World?
4:40 pm
Panel ‣ From SaaS to Agents: The Next Wave of Intelligent Value Creation
5:15 pm
Hackathon Awards Ceremony
5:50 pm
/function1 Closing Session: Will We Tame AI or Be Tamed?
6:05 pm
Networking at /function1
SECOND Stage
8:00 am
Doors Open
11:20 am
Opening Remarks From the Organizers
11:35 am
Keynote ‣ Friend, not Foe; Demistifying AI as Part of the Mainstream Adoption
11:55 am
Panel ‣ Moving Industries Forward with Conversational AI
12:30 pm
Keynote ‣ Demo-to-Death Pipeline: Why 95% of Enterprise AI Fails to Yield ROI
12:45 - 1:45 PM
Lunch Break
1:50 pm
Panel ‣ Artificial General Intelligence: Sceptics vs. Believers
2:25 pm
Panel ‣ Getting Ready for Robotics Revolution: Making Changes Everywhere from Manufacturing to Human Minds
3:00 pm
Panel ‣ Eradicating AI Hallucinations Before They Get Worse: Is It Even Possible?
3:35 pm
Panel ‣ Smart Cities Showdown: Will AI Redesign MENA?
4:10 pm
Panel ‣ AI-as-a-Service: Onboarding Traditional Companies as a Path to Mass Adoption
4:45 pm
Keynote ‣ Beyond Models: The Rise of AI Systems That Think, Plan, and Collaborate
5:05 pm
Panel ‣ Synthetic Stars & Digital Performers: Creative, Commercial and Moral Questions
5:40 pm
Day 1 Closing Remarks
8:00 am
Doors Open
11:05 am
Opening Remarks From the Organizers
11:20 am
Panel ‣ Stepping Into the Age of Consumer AI Hardware
11:55 am
Panel ‣ Art Meets AI: Will Machines Outcreate Humans?
12:30 pm
Keynote ‣ The Future of Business Intelligence - Conversational, Contextual and Collaborative
12:45 - 1:45 PM
Lunch Break
1:50 pm
Panel ‣ Narrative AI in Gaming: Dynamic Storytelling That Adapts to the Player
2:25 pm
Keynote ‣ Will you lead AI or be led by those who do?
2:45 pm
Fireside chat ‣ “Cold-Start” for AI Tracks vs Freedom of Creativity
3:20 pm
Keynote ‣ Content Citizens: How AI is Reshaping Cultural Authorship in the Middle East
3:40 pm
Panel ‣ AI in the Real World: How Tech Is Reinventing Real Estate and Hospitality
4:15 pm
Keynote ‣ The Age of AI native Brands
4:35 pm
Keynote ‣ Big Bang AI Strategy
5:05 pm
Keynote ‣ Build Your AI Dream Team: Custom GPTs Without the Payroll
5:25 pm
Day 2 Closing Remarks
Pitch STAGE
Founders Program
8:00 am
Doors Open
11:40 am
Founders Program Opening
12:00 pm
Keynote ‣ How Startups Can Grow with AI/ML API
12:15 pm
Panel ‣ What Today's AI Investors Want
12:45 - 1:45 PM
Lunch Break
1:50 pm
Startup Pitching Session #1
3:05 pm
Startup Pitching Session #2
4:20 pm
Keynote ‣ Equal Access to Capital for Global AI Founders. Tokenizing Startups. Democratizing Finance
4:40 pm
Pitch Winner Announcement
AI Futures Lab
8:00 am
Doors Open
12:00 pm
AI FUTURES LAB Opening Ceremony
12:35 pm
Keynote ‣ How Universities Can Grow with AI/ML API
12:45 - 1:45 PM
Lunch Break
1:50 pm
Pitching Session #1
3:05 pm
Pitching Session #2
4:10 pm
Keynote ‣ AI: Empowering the Creative Economy
4:30 pm
Grand Finale and Prize Announcements
Hackathon, Workshops & founders Zone
Hackathon Final Day
8:00 am
Doors Open
10:45 am
Hackathon Day 1 Opening Remarks
11:00 am
AI Genesis Hackathon: Part 1
12:45 - 1:45 PM
Lunch Break
1:45 pm
AI Genesis Hackathon: Part 2
5:05 pm
Jury Deliberation Break
Hackathon Demos & Workshop
8:00 am
Doors Open
10:00 aM
Hackathon Day 2 Opening Remarks
10:05 aM
Demo Showcasing
12:45 - 1:45 PM
Lunch Break
1:50 pm
Workshop ‣ NVIDIA Al Ecosystem: How to build Production-ready GenAI
2:55 pm
Workshop ‣ AWS: AgentCore Mastery: From Prototype to Production
- Speaker
Mohamed Ezzat AI/ML Tech Seller Lead MENAT at AWS
Founders Lounge
3:40–4:40 PM
Round Robin ‣ Exclusive small-group networking for AI startup founders with leading global VCs
4:40–5:40 PM
Round Robin ‣ Exclusive small-group networking for AI startup founders with leading global VCs