Executive Leadership Conference in Dubai Tackles Critical Scaling Challenges as UAE AI Spending Projected to Reach USD 5.78 Billion by 2029
Gulf Business Machines (GBM), IBM, and IDC recently converged at the Jumeirah Mina Al Salam in Dubai to host an exclusive executive conference titled “The Agentic Enterprise: Closing the Gap Between AI Ambition and AI Operations.”
As artificial intelligence shifts from boardroom aspiration to essential business infrastructure, regional leaders gathered to address the operational hurdle of moving beyond isolated AI pilots toward governed, autonomous scale. According to IDC forecasts highlighted at the event, AI spending in the UAE is projected to reach an unprecedented USD 5.78 billion by 2029, making secure and structured deployment a top enterprise priority.
The summit focused on four foundational pillars necessary to run AI at scale, examining systems, automation, and autonomous execution. Key discussions explored:
- Infrastructure Readiness: Contrasting modern AI-ready architectures against legacy systems to handle heavy workloads.
- Frictionless Deployment: Leveraging intelligent automation to eliminate deployment bottlenecks.
- Production-Grade Agentic AI: Navigating the technical and operational complexities of transitioning autonomous agents from sandbox environments to live production.
The event featured prominent industry voices, including Dr. Feras Al Jabi, General Manager of Technology at GBM; Shukri Eid, VP & General Manager – Gulf, Levant and Pakistan at IBM Gulf; and Melih Murat, Associate Research Director for AI (META) at IDC.
A central theme of the conference was the necessity of secure, sovereign local infrastructure to support autonomous systems capable of executing complex workflows under regional compliance standards. Attendees also experienced an exclusive live demonstration of advanced IBM hardware units recently acquired by GBM, underscoring the firm’s strategic commitment to building a resilient, compliant regional AI ecosystem.
“For the region’s enterprises to innovate, they need more than raw compute power alone; secure, localized infrastructure that respects regional compliance and business culture is vital,” noted Dr. Feras Al Jabi. “‘The Agentic Enterprise’ represents our vision of a future where AI does not just support decision-making but also acts as a driver of organizational growth in a safe and seamless ecosystem.”
