Progress is not measured by ambition alone, but by who is empowered to shape it. As we mark Emirati Women’s Day, it’s worth asking what authentic leadership in science and technology looks like.

Not symbolically, but structurally. Who is at the table when decisions are made? Who is building the systems that will shape our society for decades to come?

The UAE has never accepted the premise that women in technology are an exception. Our leadership has long placed women at the center of national progress, whether in space exploration, renewable energy, or frontier sciences.

That vision is clear in the UAE’s knowledge-based economy, where women are expected to contribute as innovators, scientists and decision-makers.

For me, this is personal. I was raised around women who succeeded in medicine and finance, careers traditionally seen as rigorous but socially acceptable for women.

My path veered elsewhere. I was drawn to mathematics, to abstraction, to the logic of systems. That led me to cryptography, then to artificial intelligence, and ultimately to cybersecurity. I didn’t pursue technology to prove anything. I pursued it because it was the best way I knew to solve complex, real-world problems.

Along the way, like many women in technical fields, I encountered doubt. Not about the work but about my place in it. Those moments didn’t deter me. They clarified my purpose not just to participate, but to lead.

At the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), that vision comes to life every day. We are home to more than 355 women scientists and engineers, including 157 Emirati women, working across AI, robotics, quantum technologies, cryptography and space science. Many of them are leading AI research projects, from advancing our Falcon large language models to developing ethical AI systems, showing that women are at the forefront of shaping the UAE’s AI landscape. They are building infrastructure, shaping standards, and setting the pace for a new era of Emirati-led innovation.

Their contributions are proof of the UAE’s strategic capability.

Because globally, the picture is very different. According to Randstad, women represent less than one-third of AI professionals and just 18 per cent of AI researchers. The imbalance isn’t about interest or aptitude. It is about access, representation, and systems that determine who gets to lead. In a field as consequential as AI that is rapidly reshaping industries, geopolitics, and governance, that imbalance isn’t just unjust. It’s a liability.

UAE is making inclusion a ‘national advantage’

Here in the UAE, we are taking a different path, inclusion is not treated as a moral imperative, but as a national advantage.

One example is the NexTech Program, the flagship talent development initiative of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC). Designed exclusively for Emirati nationals, it has already placed 100 students, many of them women, at leading universities including Cambridge University, Yale, and CalTech.

By contributing to advanced projects abroad and bringing their expertise home, these women are emerging as future leaders in transformative technology, including AI. Their success stories demonstrate the UAE’s commitment to ensuring that women are central to its scientific future.

Emirati women in AI

And make no mistake: the stakes are high. The next generation of Emirati women in AI will be the ones who ensure that the UAE’s technological progress is inclusive, ethical, and globally competitive. They will write algorithms that drive our industries, design intelligent systems that serve society, and create solutions that we cannot yet imagine.

As one of the few women globally leading a deep tech research institute, I take seriously the responsibility to advance science, to lead and to mentor. I often meet young Emirati women who ask me how I found my place in this field. My answer is always the same: I didn’t wait for permission. As women, we belong here.

Every young woman considering a path in science and technology should have the courage to be bold. Your intelligence, creativity, and resilience are valuable. They are essential. This field needs your insight at the core.

But for this to happen, inclusion cannot remain aspirational. It must be operational. We must continue to invest in mentorship, education, and opportunity.

We must empower women in AI to unlock innovation, strengthen national competitiveness, and secure the UAE’s leadership in the technologies of tomorrow. If innovation is to serve all of society, then all of society must be involved in shaping it.

This Emirati Women’s Day is not just a celebration of what has been achieved but a reminder of what’s still at stake. AI is already embedded in our economies, public services, and security infrastructure. If we want systems that are effective, ethical, and resilient, they must reflect the full spectrum of human intelligence, and that includes women.

When women rise in AI, they lift more than themselves. They lift the standards, the systems, and the nation rises with them.

Read: Inclusivity in the workplace: A strategic imperative for the UAE

My Sports Academy (MSA), one of the UAE’s leading swimming organisations, has announced a landmark partnership with Australian Olympic Champion and World Record holder Stephanie Rice, who now resides in Dubai. Rice will spearhead My Swim Club, the region’s most comprehensive swimming programme, designed to save lives through water safety, build confidence through learn-to-swim education, and nurture future champions through performance excellence at every age.

The collaboration brings together MSA’s 14 years of regional expertise with Rice’s world-class performance insights, delivering programmes that aim to transform swimming education across the UAE.

“From a very young age, I knew I wanted to be an Olympic swimmer, and I will always be grateful to have grown up in a country with some of the world’s highest standards of learn-to-swim programmes. So I’m thrilled to be supporting MSA’s programme here in Dubai, the place I now call home, as the quality of their programme reflects the same teaching standards I was fortunate to grow up with. My hope is that your children benefit from the same high-quality swim education, whether they dream of becoming Olympic champions or simply want to enjoy the city’s wonderful beaches and pools with peace of mind,” said Stephanie Rice.

Rice will play an active role in curriculum development and coach support across MSA venues and partner schools, including Dubai British School (Barsha & Mira), Jumeirah Baccalaureate School (Al Wasl), The English College (Umm Suqeim & Mira), and Brighton College (Al Barsha South).

Read: Inside UAE’s wellness, sports communities: What is it like to live there?

MSA’s programmes are tailored to every stage of a swimmer’s journey, ensuring participants of all ages and abilities acquire essential water-safety skills while offering clear pathways to competitive excellence.

“Having three-time Olympic champion Stephanie Rice involved, brings elite level experience and a fresh perspective to our squads. As Head Coach at MSC, I’m extremely excited to collaborate with her this season. Our pathway is designed to develop both performance and character, while nurturing a lifelong love for the sport at every level,” said Dimitrije Didic, Head Coach, MSA.

Swimming continues to gain momentum in the UAE, supported by initiatives such as 24/7 night-swimming beaches, water parks, luxury residential developments, and a strong government push to promote wellness and leisure. However, according to the World Health Organization, drowning remains one of the leading causes of accidental death worldwide—a challenge also reflected in the UAE.

By combining infrastructure investment, community engagement, and international sporting expertise, the UAE is laying the foundation for a vibrant swimming culture. MSA, which already achieved notable victories such as winning the Dubai Open 2024/25, now aims to set a new gold standard for swimming education in the Middle East under Rice’s leadership.

With this partnership, MSA reinforces its mission to ensure every child in the UAE not only learns to swim but does so with confidence, skill, and ease.

As the global energy map is redrawn, the Middle East finds itself at the epicentre of a profound transformation. The region’s traditional hydrocarbon foundations are rapidly being complemented and, in some cases, challenged by an accelerating push into renewables, hydrogen, carbon capture, and digital innovation.

While capital investment and infrastructure headlines dominate, there’s a deeper shift underway: the emergence of a new energy workforce.

The GCC’s ability to compete and lead in this evolving landscape hinges on how well we reimagine our talent strategies. This is a moment of opportunity that GCC leaders must seize.

Talent strategy is business strategy

For decades, the energy industry has been built on deep technical expertise and legacy systems. But the emerging reality requires teams that are technically capable, adaptable, cross-disciplinary, digitally fluent, and diverse.

McKinsey projects that the global energy transition could create up to 25 million new jobs by 2050. The International Energy Agency projects continued expansion of energy sector employment by 2030, with clean energy expected to be the main engine of growth.

These are not incremental changes, they represent a bold realignment of the labour market, opening the door to new industries, new roles, and new possibilities for talent across the region.

Diversity drives long-term growth

Inclusion and adaptability are powerful catalysts for innovation and long-term competitiveness, core to any forward-thinking workforce strategy. The sector continues to face underrepresentation of women, particularly in field and leadership roles.

Saudi Aramco’s Women Development Program is a compelling example of an initiative tackling this gap head-on. At the same time, ADNOC’s In-Country Value (ICV) programme is redefining what it means to build national capabilities through structured localisation.

Diversity extends beyond gender or nationality and encompasses a spectrum of skillsets, experiences, and viewpoints. These varied perspectives are vital in today’s complex energy environment, where teams must navigate the interplay between legacy infrastructure and next-generation technologies.

Building capability, not just filling roles

The reality is that the talent needed to fuel this transition often isn’t readily available, but that presents an exciting opportunity to shape and cultivate a new generation of energy professionals.

This is why we have made workforce capability a priority at Advance Global Recruitment. Our focus is on professionals from adjacent sectors such as logistics and infrastructure, offering them a pathway into the energy sector through intensive, tailored training programmes.

Structured mentorship and knowledge transfer programmes are equally important. Bringing in international expertise is just the starting point. The real opportunity lies in embedding learning and leadership development at the heart of workforce models to create lasting value and sustainable growth.

The role of global expertise in local growth

Even with bold nationalisation and training initiatives, the region will continue to face short-term skill shortages in key areas like offshore wind, hydrogen, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), and AI/data intelligence.

International sourcing remains vital, but as a strategic tool to accelerate knowledge transfer and innovation.

Shaping the future through shared purpose

The GCC’s economic visions are bold, long-term blueprints for diversified, knowledge-based economies. Achieving them also depends on building human capital at scale.

The private sector must be a joint driver, particularly in shaping curriculum pipelines, training programmes, and policies that match real-world demand.

The UAE offers a strong model. Its pro-business environment, streamlined setup processes, and investment incentives show what public-private alignment can achieve. But as the skills equation becomes more complex, even tighter collaboration will be required.

From vision to execution

According to the World Economic Forum, 50 per cent of all employees will need reskilling by 2025. This figure underscores just how rapidly the global workforce is evolving. Nowhere is this shift more urgent, or more promising, than in the energy sector.

Reskilling should not be viewed as a cost, but as a strategic asset. The winning playbook includes targeted training, inclusive hiring, international partnerships, and measurable impact.

The bottom line

Infrastructure may fuel capacity, but people fuel progress. The GCC has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead the global energy transition, not only through its projects, but through its people.

That journey begins by making talent development a priority today.

Read: How the GCC is fueling the transition to clean energy

The writer is the CEO at Advance Global Recruitment.

The Middle East has become a proving ground for some of the world’s most complex and persistent cyber campaigns. With its critical role in global trade, energy production, and rapid digital transformation, the region is facing escalating waves of AI-driven, multi-vector DDoS attacks that threaten national strategies across telecom, energy, finance, and education. In this Q&A, Dr. Emad Fahmy, systems engineering manager, Middle East at NETSCOUT, unpacks why adversaries are targeting Saudi Arabia and the UAE, how new attack models are evolving, and what governments and businesses must do to strengthen resilience before the next wave.

Why the region has become the testing ground for some of the world’s most intense cyber campaigns

The Middle East sits at the intersection of critical global trade, energy production, and digital expansion. These attributes make it an attractive option for adversaries wanting to test new DDoS techniques, including AI-driven attacks and multi-vector campaigns. In the first half of 2025, the EMEA saw over 3.2 million DDoS attacks—more than any other globally tracked region.

What these strikes mean for national strategies in telecom, energy, finance, and education

Sectors like telecom, energy, and financial services are central to national stability. Disruption as a result of DDoS attacks presents both operational risks and strategic vulnerabilities. National strategies must prioritise DDoS mitigation as a core function of digital defence. This must include early detection capabilities, automated response and increased collaboration between government and critical infrastructure operators.

Read: Three cyber safety tips for executives working while travelling

How governments and businesses can strengthen resilience before the next wave

Improving resilience starts with visibility. Organisations must leverage hybrid mitigation models – on-premise and cloud-based – that are powered by real-time threat intelligence and automated orchestration. Governments can accelerate readiness by enforcing sector-wide coordination, ensuring service providers have the telemetry and tooling needed to reduce time-to-mitigate at scale.

On KSA:

Tell us a bit about the scale and implications of the record-breaking attacks

Saudi Arabia observed more than 270,000 DDoS attacks in H1 2025 – the highest frequency in the region. A single campaign peaked at 1 Tbps and leveraged 24 vectors in a single strike. These attacks didn’t just test the perimeter—they probed for vulnerabilities across satellite telecom, energy delivery, and cloud services. The implications are significant for national digital transformation efforts.

How AI-driven botnets and DDoS-for-hire services are reshaping regional cyber threats

The rise of DDoS-for-hire platforms, combined with AI-enhanced automation, has lowered the barrier to launching sophisticated attacks. Botnets can now adapt mid-attack, shift vectors, and sustain pressure longer than ever before. For defenders, this means traditional, manual responses are no longer sufficient. The threat landscape is accelerating—and attackers are innovating rapidly.

Why Saudi Arabia has become a central focus for hostile actors in 2025

As Saudi Arabia leads regional digital innovation across smart cities, e-government and advanced telecom. This has made it a prime target for adversaries aiming to disrupt economic progress. The combination of high-value infrastructure and global visibility makes the Kingdom a strategic focus for both politically and financially motivated actors.

On UAE:

How are new tactics are redefining cyber conflict in the region

Threat actors are shifting from short, high-volume bursts to long-duration, adaptive campaigns. In the UAE, we recorded an average attack duration of 27.34 minutes, with some extending beyond three hours. This reflects a growing trend: attackers are using time and complexity – not just brute force – to degrade services and evade defences.

Why AI-driven botnets are making the UAE a prime target

From fintech to cloud infrastructure, the UAE’s rapid digital adoption makes it a high-value target. AI-driven botnets enable adversaries to identify and exploit weak points dynamically. These systems operate at machine speed, combining attack types in real time. As a result, the UAE faces a higher frequency of complex, targeted strikes.

What prolonged attacks mean for the country’s financial networks and innovation hubs

Extended DDoS events introduce significant risks to uptime, customer trust and transaction integrity. The UAE’s financial sector, which is reliant on uninterrupted digital services, faces increased exposure as attacks move from seconds to hours. Innovation hubs must architect systems to absorb, mitigate and learn from long-duration, multi-vector assaults in real time.

The regional implications of attackers choosing patience over speed

This shift toward sustained disruption signals a maturing threat model. Adversaries are adopting “slow burn” tactics that exhaust mitigation layers, delay detection, and create long-term pressure on service providers. For the region, this underscores the need for proactive mitigation strategies that anticipate dwell time, not just bandwidth surges.

Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports rose by 17.8 per cent in Q2 2025, according to official data, reflecting growth in both re-exports and national exports.

The increase included a 46.2 per cent surge in re-exports, while national non-oil exports, excluding re-exports, grew by 5.6 per cent, according to Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Statistics.

The ratio of non-oil exports, including re-exports, to imports rose to 37.3 per cent in the second quarter from 35.8 per cent in the same quarter of 2024.

This was driven by the 17.8 per cent growth in non-oil exports, which outpaced a 13.1 per cent increase in imports during the period.

In contrast, a 15.8 per cent decline in oil exports in Q2 led to a 7.3 per cent year-on-year drop in total merchandise exports. This, combined with the rise in imports, pushed the merchandise trade balance surplus down by 56.2 per cent compared to the same quarter of 2024.

Oil’s share of the kingdom’s total exports slipped from 74.7 per cent to 67.9 per cent, reflecting a gradual rebalancing of the export basket.

Chemical products and machinery were the top non-oil exports and imports, respectively, with China continuing to be the primary trading partner in Q2 2025.

June showed a positive trend for non-oil exports in Saudi

However, monthly data for June showed a more positive trend, with non-oil exports surging by 22.1 per cent, outpacing a modest 1.7 per cent increase in imports. This lifted the trade balance surplus by 10.6 per cent year-on-year.

Even with oil exports falling by 2.5 per cent, the non-oil momentum was sufficient to keep overall merchandise exports in positive territory, rising 3.7 per cent.

Oil’s share of exports in June narrowed further, dropping from 74.7 per cent in June 2024 to 70.2 per cent.

Read: UAE economy hits Dhs1.776tn as non-oil sectors drive growth