Doha: The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) hosted AI and XR Sandbox Open Demo Day.
Minister of Communications and Information Technology HE Mohammed bin Ali Al Mannai attended the event, organized by the MCIT, through the TASMU Innovation Lab.
The event brought together government entities, startups, and partners from across the communication and information technology sector to showcase four proof-of-concept solutions. These solutions were designed to address real-world challenges in healthcare, compliance, procurement, and smart-city mobility.
The Sandbox Open Demo Day is designed to provide a safe and controlled environment for piloting, developing, and evaluating emerging technologies. The initiative aims to accelerate digital innovation while upholding the highest standards of safety and security.
This approach aligns with the mission of the Ministry to enable a resilient digital transformation and contributes directly to the Digital Agenda 2030 and Qatar National Vision 2030.
As part of the initiative, participants from government entities and startups were given access to Vertex, Google Cloud's AI platform, along with mentorship and support from Deloitte AI Institute experts and Google specialists.
Meanwhile, the Extended Reality Sandbox provided participants with advanced augmented and virtual reality tools, a unified development portal, and intensive hands-on training from Deloitte Digital experts.
This blend of theoretical and practical training enabled participants to transform their innovative concepts into viable 3D proof-of-concept solutions.
The event showcased four advanced pilot proof-of-concept solutions, three AI-based solutions and one extended reality solution.
The first was a secured X-ray image sharing tool developed by participants from the Ministry of Public Health in collaboration with Hamad Medical Corporation and Sinaholz; which utilizes AI to hide patient-identifying data from medical images, enabling safe data sharing among authorized entities while preserving privacy.
The second was an electronic policy compliance analyzer, developed by a team from the Ministry of Finance that automatically reviews policy and regulatory documents, comparing them against established standards to detect potential non-compliance and streamline governance processes.
The third was a smart request-for-proposal generator that automates the creation of procurement requests, enhancing consistency, accelerating workflows, and reducing processing time, the proof-of-concept is the product of a collective effort from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Ministry of Culture, the General Authority of Customs, Communications Regulatory Authority, and RF{X}AI.
The fourth, developed within the Extended Reality Sandbox, was an innovative parking design solution by Sinaholz aimed at reducing construction costs and risks, optimizing space utilization, and enhancing user experience through advanced digital tools for management and pre-booking.
Commenting on the event, Assistant Undersecretary for Digital Industry Affairs at MCIT Reem Al Mansoori stated: "The launch of the first cohort of proof-of-concept solutions under the Artificial Intelligence and Extended Reality Sandbox Initiative marks a significant step forward in advancing Qatar's digital innovation ecosystem. Participating teams successfully transformed their ideas into practical proof-of-concept solutions, demonstrating the vast potential of emerging technologies in addressing real-world challenges. The sandboxes provide a secure environment to pilot and refine digital solutions before large-scale deployment, reducing risks and improving implementation quality. Furthermore, they serve as a platform to build bridges of collaboration between government entities, innovators, startups, and global partners. This inaugural experience has established a pioneering model for collaboration, setting the foundation for a new phase of digital innovation that enhances service delivery, drives economic diversification, and accelerates the implementation of the Digital Agenda 2030.”
Throughout this initiative, MCIT's TASMU Innovation Lab has worked on bringing global expertise into Qatar's digital innovation ecosystem by engaging international technology experts to collaborate with local talents.
The Sandbox initiative stands out as a pioneering platform through which the Ministry is driving national digital transformation, in line with the pillars of the Digital Agenda 2030, by providing a clear and responsible pathway for piloting, scaling, and adopting emerging technologies.
