Nizar Hneini, Senior Partner and Middle East Managing Director at Roland Berger
Doha, Qatar: Qatar is committed to advance innovation and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies by promoting collaboration between government and private sector and positioning the country as a regional hub, for AI development.
Speaking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the recently held World Summit AI – Qatar 2025, Nizar Hneini, Senior Partner and Middle East Managing Director at Roland Berger highlighted several initiatives taken by the country to advance its goals.
Regarding digital innovation and AI, he pointed out the region is at a turning point. “With the advent of AI, we have a chance in the region, specifically in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), to set the trends for the future. According to rough estimates for the contribution of AI in GDP in the GCC is between 8 percent and 12 percent.
“Few countries globally have articulated AI ambitions at this scale. So we really are using the technology to leapfrog and to advance the national agendas,” he said.
Qatar has holistic programmes around its national strategies from upskilling to having the right data foundation to the right operating models to bringing the right infrastructure to ensure the adoption of the technology is the right one, and the use cases serve the citizens.
Hneini pointed out the country has been leading in certain aspects, like it had the first law on data in 2016 and amended it in 2021 which shows Qatar has seen the importance of technology early on in line with its national vision. It also has the Digital Agenda 2030 around the topics such as infrastructure, digital economy, collaboration, government services, enabling private sectors, and innovation startups.
Replying to a query about challenges of AI, Hneini said, “Our role as thought leaders is to make sure that the good side of technology prevails, or at least we manage the risks of the misuse of technologies.
“We have seen a lot of cases where AI is misused. The risks go from unintentional because of model hallucinations that could lead to big challenges and issues in implementing use cases to intentional manipulation of models, data poisoning that could risk major use cases. So having the right data foundations, the right regulation is paramount,” he added.
Hosting events like the World Summit AI 2025, MWC25 Doha, and Web Summit shows that the country is not only becoming an epicenter for AI activity but also technology in general.
He said, “Qatar has announced early investments and support for quantum-focused startups. So the country is spotting the right tech trends and pushing for putting the right regulations and infrastructure, to build sustainable development in these emerging technologies.”
During the summit, Roland Berger unveiled a study for the region on AI. Hneini pointed out that the main take away from the study is that ambition is way ahead of the current status and what operations is delivering in AI. “This calls for a moment of review of the strategies we are building and ensure that they go to the right depth and generate the right initiatives,” he said.
