The Dubai Way: Govpreneurship in the Age of AI — and AI for Families
Govpreneurship in the Age of AI — and AI for Families
How does a government run itself like a venture — and what does it take to raise a family in the age of AI? Melissa Saoudy — Cambridge-trained impact strategist, founder of Dubai consultancy The Why, and a fifteen-year insider of the UAE innovation ecosystem — joins Dr. Nikolaos Mavridis (PhD MIT, Academic & Consultant in AI, based in the UAE for 18 years) for an evening on what Dubai's innovation machinery actually looks like from the inside, told through two of its frontiers: the programs preparing families for AI, and the discipline of “Govpreneurship” that makes such programs possible — with a fireside conversation, also covering what Greece can borrow, adapt, and offer back.
PROGRAMME
18:00 Welcome — on behalf of the co-organizers
18:05 Opening — Preparing our Economies and Societies for the Age of AI — Dr. Nikolaos Mavridis: the AI'nclusion initiative of Komvos; bringing MIT's Day of AI to Greek schools; MIT's Universal AI micro-credentials; MIT Daron Azemoglu’s Pro-Worker AI
18:25 Part I — AI & Families: why parenting matters in the age of AI — Melissa Saoudy: the background, the problem, the opportunity, and a policy agenda — shaping the UAE Government AI for Families agenda and what comes next, from the family advisor to a country observatory
18:40 Part II — Govtpreneur in Residence: lessons from the frontline of the UAE innovation agenda — the three faces of Govpreneurship, each with its Dubai instrument: government as a customer for startups (the Dubai Future Accelerators — equity-free and pilot-first: the first Future of AI in Government Services cycle drew 615 companies from 55 countries, defined 183 use cases and sent 75 to pilot across 20+ government entities); civil servants as entrepreneurs (Dubai Future Academy, the DEEP experts programme, Dubai Future Labs — plus Challenge 71 and Dubai's 22 Chief AI Officers); and the state itself as a venture (Area 2071, the Museum of the Future, the Dubai Future Forum) — with its export layer: teaching other governments the Dubai way
19:00 Fireside chat — Melissa Saoudy & Nikolaos Mavridis — challenging the past, looking into the future, and bridging the UAE and Greece: what transfers, what doesn't, and where to start
19:30 Open discussion with the audience
19:45 Closing
THE SPEAKERS
| Melissa Saoudy began her career in the United States before moving to the UAE in 2012, and has since been embedded in the UAE innovation ecosystem through several high-profile initiatives that have moved the needle on the country's innovation portfolio. Her previous roles include Senior Manager at EY, Programs Lead for the Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Accelerator, and strategy and policy advisor to the Early Childhood Authority in Abu Dhabi. In 2022 she founded The Why, a Dubai-based impact and foresight consultancy working with government entities across the GCC. She holds a Master of Studies in Social Innovation from the University of Cambridge — where her recent research on power and meaning at COP climate summits was published — and is the Dubai Chapter lead of CamEntrepreneurs, the official Cambridge University entrepreneurship and investment alumni society. |
| Dr. Nikolaos Mavridis (PhD, MIT), is an Academic and Consultant, advising enterprises and governments on AI strategy, deployment and due diligence. He has created Ibn Sina, the world's first Arabic-speaking android robot. He has served as Senior Director of AI at Aramco Digital and Principal Data Scientist at SAP's GCoE, and in academia reached Full Professor and Robotics Institute Director ranks, following faculty posts at NYU Abu Dhabi and UAE University. He has also held a number of pro-bono positions: member of the MIT Educational Council, vice-president of the Hellenic Artificial Intelligence Society,founding chair of the IEEE UAE Robotics and Automation Society, board member of the MIT Club of the UAE, head of the “AI Inclusion” action for Komvos-node, and primary judge for the Dubai Prime Minister's Office "Drones for Good" and "Robotics and AI for Good" competitions. He has published 98 papers with over 4,500 citations, and given more than 150 invited talks in over 20 countries, including 4 TEDx talks, Singularity University and the Economist's Cyprus Summit. |
CO-ORGANIZERS
MIT Club of Greece · MIT Club of the UAE · Komvos - Networks of Global Hellenism · AI Catalyst · Hellenic Artificial Intelligence Association
When?
Wednesday, September 9, 2026 6:00 PMWhere?
SAKA, Athens College CampusStefanou Delta 15
154 52 Psychiko
Vorios Tomeas Athinon, Greece
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