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Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation in the Gulf Countries
May 12, 20267:00 p.m.
MADRID
Casa Árabe Auditorium (62 Alcalá St.)
7:00 p.m.
Free admission until capacity is reached.
In English, with simultaneous interpretation into Spanish.
On Tuesday, May 12, the fifteenth conference in the Aula Árabe Universitaria 7 series will be presented by Sara Bazoobandi, a visiting researcher at the Arab Gulf States Institute (Washington). It will be streamed live on YouTube (in Spanish and English). Come to the final session of the 2025/26 academic year and get your passport stamped!
This conference by Sara Bazoobandi, an economic analyst who specializes in the Gulf and Iran, will be taking a closer look at the development of artificial intelligence in Gulf countries, highlighting how these economies are driving digital transformation as a part of their strategies to achieve modernization and economic diversification. By examining key initiatives and geopolitical shifts, including agreements with the US on importing chip, the presentation will offer a comprehensive overview of the opportunities and challenges posed when adopting these technologies.
Bazoobandi will be analyzing the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence and digital transformation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, as well as examining how nations like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait are leveraging cutting-edge technologies to diversify their economies and reduce their dependence on oil. The inclusion of this technology in flagship national strategies (such as Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the United Arab Emirates’ National AI Strategy for 2031) is transforming industries like healthcare, finance, smart cities and public services.
The discussion will also explore the recent geopolitical factors involved in AI development around the Gulf, particularly the Trump administration’s AI agreements with Gulf states and the significant changes in United States chip export policy which they will cause.
Trump’s repeal of the Biden-era “AI Dissemination Rule,” which had restricted exports of advanced chips to the region, has paved the way for landmark agreements with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, marking a notable shift from an approach that had imposed significant conditions on the construction of data centers in the Gulf.
Bazoobandi will also be addressing the broader opportunities and challenges faced by the region, ranging from creating channels to attract local talent and fostering innovation ecosystems, to addressing the ethical considerations arising around data governance, algorithmic accountability and the complex security dynamics introduced by these new alliances. .
Organized with the cooperation of the Master’s degree program in Ongoing Education in Economic and Geopolitical Intelligence at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), the Master’s program in Political Science: Political Analysis, Public Policy and International Politics at Spain’s National Distance Education University (UNED), and Aula Mediterrània (IEMed). Representing the first institution will be Ángel Rodríguez García-Brazales, director of the Master’s programme and of the School of Economic Intelligence and International Relations at the UAM, who will be providing an initial commentary/response to the conference. The session will be moderated by Olivia Orozco de la Torre, Casa Árabe’s Training and Economics Coordinator.
Sara Bazoobandi
Sara Bazoobandi is a visiting scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington and a non-resident fellow at the Institute for Security Policy at the University of Kiel and the Italian Institute of International Political Studies in Milan, as well as the Managing Director of Middle East Risk Consulting, a consulting firm. She has been a full professor of Political Economics at Regent’s University London, a visiting researcher at the National University of Singapore, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Center for GeoEconomics, and a Marie Curie researcher at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) in Hamburg.
Bazoobandi studied Engineering at the University of Tehran, holds a Master of Science in Economic Development in Newly Industrialized Countries from the University of Reading, and a PhD in Middle Eastern Political Economy from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter.
An expert in political economics and geopolitics, her current research focuses on the authoritarian use of artificial intelligence, AI governance, cybersecurity and cyber-based operations for repression and influence. In the past, her work focused on Iran’s economic diversification policies, “Look East” strategies and the country’s resilience mechanisms, conducting research on the military-industrial complexes of Iran and China while analyzing such topics as the rise of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps within Iran’s political and economic systems. As part of her work at GIGA, she also studied aspects of digital diplomacy and statecraft in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and in particular the technological collaboration between China and the GCC and emerging defense technologies in the Middle East.
She has also worked as an economic analyst for various international business organizations, policy advisory institutions, and think tanks, including Nomura International (part of the Japanese financial group Nomura Holdings).
Notable among her most recent reports are “Emerging Defense Technologies in the Middle East: Strategic implications and regional security dynamics” (Digital Cooperation with Global Partners – Policy Study, GIGA, 2025); and “The Quest for Economic and Digital Transformation in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries” (Digital Cooperation with Global Partners – Policy Study, GIGA, 2025), and “Digital Sovereignty in the MENA Region: Overcoming paradoxes to ensure digital resilience” (Euromesco Policy Study 36, 2024). She is currently working on her next book, The New Regional Order in the Middle East: Changes and challenges (Palgrave Macmillan).
Bazoobandi will be analyzing the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence and digital transformation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, as well as examining how nations like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait are leveraging cutting-edge technologies to diversify their economies and reduce their dependence on oil. The inclusion of this technology in flagship national strategies (such as Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the United Arab Emirates’ National AI Strategy for 2031) is transforming industries like healthcare, finance, smart cities and public services.
The discussion will also explore the recent geopolitical factors involved in AI development around the Gulf, particularly the Trump administration’s AI agreements with Gulf states and the significant changes in United States chip export policy which they will cause.
Trump’s repeal of the Biden-era “AI Dissemination Rule,” which had restricted exports of advanced chips to the region, has paved the way for landmark agreements with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, marking a notable shift from an approach that had imposed significant conditions on the construction of data centers in the Gulf.
Bazoobandi will also be addressing the broader opportunities and challenges faced by the region, ranging from creating channels to attract local talent and fostering innovation ecosystems, to addressing the ethical considerations arising around data governance, algorithmic accountability and the complex security dynamics introduced by these new alliances. .
Organized with the cooperation of the Master’s degree program in Ongoing Education in Economic and Geopolitical Intelligence at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), the Master’s program in Political Science: Political Analysis, Public Policy and International Politics at Spain’s National Distance Education University (UNED), and Aula Mediterrània (IEMed). Representing the first institution will be Ángel Rodríguez García-Brazales, director of the Master’s programme and of the School of Economic Intelligence and International Relations at the UAM, who will be providing an initial commentary/response to the conference. The session will be moderated by Olivia Orozco de la Torre, Casa Árabe’s Training and Economics Coordinator.
Sara Bazoobandi
Sara Bazoobandi is a visiting scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington and a non-resident fellow at the Institute for Security Policy at the University of Kiel and the Italian Institute of International Political Studies in Milan, as well as the Managing Director of Middle East Risk Consulting, a consulting firm. She has been a full professor of Political Economics at Regent’s University London, a visiting researcher at the National University of Singapore, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Center for GeoEconomics, and a Marie Curie researcher at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) in Hamburg.
Bazoobandi studied Engineering at the University of Tehran, holds a Master of Science in Economic Development in Newly Industrialized Countries from the University of Reading, and a PhD in Middle Eastern Political Economy from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter.
An expert in political economics and geopolitics, her current research focuses on the authoritarian use of artificial intelligence, AI governance, cybersecurity and cyber-based operations for repression and influence. In the past, her work focused on Iran’s economic diversification policies, “Look East” strategies and the country’s resilience mechanisms, conducting research on the military-industrial complexes of Iran and China while analyzing such topics as the rise of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps within Iran’s political and economic systems. As part of her work at GIGA, she also studied aspects of digital diplomacy and statecraft in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and in particular the technological collaboration between China and the GCC and emerging defense technologies in the Middle East.
She has also worked as an economic analyst for various international business organizations, policy advisory institutions, and think tanks, including Nomura International (part of the Japanese financial group Nomura Holdings).
Notable among her most recent reports are “Emerging Defense Technologies in the Middle East: Strategic implications and regional security dynamics” (Digital Cooperation with Global Partners – Policy Study, GIGA, 2025); and “The Quest for Economic and Digital Transformation in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries” (Digital Cooperation with Global Partners – Policy Study, GIGA, 2025), and “Digital Sovereignty in the MENA Region: Overcoming paradoxes to ensure digital resilience” (Euromesco Policy Study 36, 2024). She is currently working on her next book, The New Regional Order in the Middle East: Changes and challenges (Palgrave Macmillan).
