Digital transformation across the Gulf Cooperation Council has accelerated dramatically over the past decade.
While many countries globally have experimented with digital agendas, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar have moved from strategy to execution backed by capital, regulatory reform, and a willingness to take bold risks.
At the centre of many of these initiatives is Cisco’s Country Digital Accelerator program, led by Guy Diedrich, Senior Vice President and Global Innovation Officer at Cisco.
From PowerPoint to Execution: The Birth of the CDA
Launched in 2015, the Country Digital Accelerator addressed a common problem: governments with digital strategies but no execution plan.
“They had hired the presidents, prime ministers of countries, ministers had hired the consultancies to come in and help them develop their national digital agendas because again, they were trying to figure out what digitisation was all about back then.”
What they ended up getting was a PowerPoint. It was very well thought out, very good PowerPoint, but they had no execution plan,” said Diedrich.
The program began in France under President François Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls before expanding to the UK, Italy, Germany, and India. 11 years later, the CDA operates in 57 countries and has funded more than 2,000 digitisation projects across healthcare, education, smart cities, transportation, sustainability, and security.
Why the GCC Stands Out?
Having worked in the region for over two decades, Diedrich highlights the Gulf’s defining trait: fearlessness.
“Because they’re fearless, they take on projects that are seemingly impossible and they can do that obviously because of their incredible wealth, but you still can sit there on the sidelines with incredible wealth and do nothing. And they choose to do something.”
From Saudi Arabia’s transformation to Dubai’s rise, Abu Dhabi’s stability, and Qatar’s hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the region combines ambition with execution.
“If you take the big three, Saudi, UAE and Qatar, their business friendliness, the people that they have in charge of their commerce and industry ministries, their investment ministries. They get it. They get it. They’re trying to create a magnet,” he said.
Oman launched their first financial centre last month, with the IFC Oman in Muscat.
Energy: A Strategic Advantage
A critical factor in the GCC’s AI ambitions is energy. As AI infrastructure expands, energy becomes the global bottleneck – but Gulf states have abundant, cost-controlled supply.
“We have this incredible advantage regarding energy, and it is the one bottleneck that everyone’s concerned globally. So why wouldn’t we put up some of the largest data centres, AI driven data centres in the world? Because we have an advantage on the one thing that people are most nervous about…
Energy, the cost of energy and availability of energy; it is unlimited,” he said.
G42 & HUMAIN
Cisco is the networking and security partner on several major AI infrastructure initiatives in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, including initiatives with G42. Diedrich reiterates the inseparable link between AI and networks: “AI is nothing without the network. AI is nothing without a secure network.”
The next phase will involve multiple, interconnected data centres functioning as distributed yet unified systems.
“There’s not going to be just one HUMAIN data centre. There’s going to be many data centres that are all networked, that are all functioning as a single unit in terms of power and expanse. Cisco’s going to be at the core of that.”
Skilling at Global Scale
Beyond infrastructure, Cisco’s Networking Academy operates in 194 countries, training nearly 30 million students in networking, cybersecurity, and programming.
“It is networking, security training, it is programming and it’s all free. It’s the best thing Cisco does for the world.”
This program enables Cisco to identify emerging markets early, supporting pilot projects even in regions that may not yet appear as obvious investment destinations.
Africa: The Next Opportunity
Diedrich identifies Africa as a major growth opportunity.
Cisco has established “edge centres” in South Africa—technology entrepreneurship hubs located in disadvantaged areas. These centres offer free NetAcad training, business mentoring, and connections to financing.
“It’s sort of like an entrepreneurship education centre for those interested in technology.”
Cisco does not lead with product sales; it works backwards from desired outcomes, funding pilots and proofs of concepts that partners can later scale.
“We never walk in and say, here’s Cisco’s products, how many do you want to buy? It’s the exact opposite. They already know what they want to do and so we get from them an outcome and then we work backwards from that outcome.”
The “Revenge of the Humanities”
Diedrich sees AI driving a renaissance for the humanities. As a former university vice chancellor, he observed rising interest in engineering and science, while humanities enrolment fell by 30%. Now, the pendulum is shifting back.
“Here we are, we’ve come full circle, right? Think about it. If you have access to all the information in the world at your fingertips, what becomes the most important skill? Asking the right questions. The domain of the humanities.”
“We need journalists, we need critical thinkers, we need problem solvers, we need linguists, we need people that understand ethics, we need philosophers, we need all of these things.”
Technologists with a grounding in humanities will be essential, able to answer not just “Can we?” but “Should we?”
“The more artificial the intelligence, the more important the human in the loop.”
Trust vs. Confidence in AI
Diedrich also challenges the framing of “trusting AI.”
“There’s no such thing as trust when you’re talking about AI. There is confidence in the well functioning of the AI, but trust is a human construct, it’s a human dynamic.”
He defines trust as voluntary vulnerability between humans—something AI cannot reciprocate.
“AI can’t voluntarily make itself vulnerable to anyone. It’s incapable of trust, and as such, we’re incapable of trusting it.”
The debate, he suggests, is misframed. The real question is not trust, but confidence in performance and governance at the national level. His comments challenge the assumptions framing AI amongst tech and financial firms.
The Next Frontier: Quantum
Finally, Diedrich hints at what may follow the current AI boom: quantum computing.
He believes progress in quantum error suppression is accelerating faster than many anticipate and suggests commercial quantum systems may emerge earlier than previously forecasted timelines such as 2035.
For now, however, the GCC’s competitive edge lies in three pillars: energy abundance, regulatory agility, and infrastructure ambition.
Combined with bold execution, these factors position the region not merely as an AI adopter, but as an AI infrastructure powerhouse.
As AI becomes embedded and invisible, one lesson stands out from Diedrich’s reflections: the future of technology will belong not only to those who can build it—but to those who can question it.
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