EDGE pushes bounds of electronic warfare, jamming drones, securing comms

Abu Dhabi’s EDGE Group is one of the world’s fastest-growing defense contractors, driven by the UAE’s vision of becoming a global leader in the development of military technology. 

Since its launch in 2019, when the government consolidated 25 separate companies to form the defense conglomerate, EDGE has introduced more than 200 advanced products, focusing on rapidly integrating emerging technologies like AI and electronic warfare. 

Dr. Chaouki Kasmi, EDGE’s President of Technology and Innovation, is the person behind much of the tech development. A 39-year-old dual French-Emirati national, Kasmi is helping to push EDGE’s research agenda beyond the traditional boundaries of defense contractors, positioning the company as a high-speed innovation engine.

“If you want to make something real fast, this is the place to do it,” Kasmi tells The Circuit.

From integrating AI into military platforms to mentoring the next generation of engineers, Kasmi is part of a cohort of technologists turning out products to support the UAE’s defense ambitions.

The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: Your background is in electromagnetic interference and security. What are the latest developments in this field, and what threats is EDGE helping to solve?

It’s well known the electromagnetic spectrum is the most contested space right now. In the Ukrainian-Russian war, electronic warfare is critical. At EDGE, we have the BORDERSHIELD autonomous surveillance system that combines jammers and sensors to prevent unauthorized drone incursions.

We also develop secure communication systems through a company called KATIM, with the goal of building resilient communication networks. We protect assets – critical infrastructure, military bases, and power plants. At the same time, because of the rise in spoofing technologies, we developed resilient secure communications through our company.

Q: What are EDGE Group’s primary goals regarding security, and how does that align with the broader innovation strategy?

One, we are the custodians of innovation for the Group. We have a specific team overseeing what we call the technology portfolio of the Group – a kind of marketplace for all innovations and products developed by EDGE. You can see the intellectual property, which team developed what, the performance and the interfaces. Based on that, we can quickly react to customer requirements and develop new solutions.

Two, we have permanent workshops with end-users and clients. We understand their challenges, develop solutions with them, validate and mature them iteratively to improve usability, training, and understanding of the technology benefits. This ensures maximum return on investment, meaning enablement for law enforcement and the end user.

Q: As a defense company, how does EDGE Group integrate AI into its platforms, and what measures are you taking to ensure these systems are ethical and secure? 

EDGE is an innovation company that happens to operate in the defense industry. We are pushing innovation and the early adoption of technologies. We integrated AI years back, before people got the hype of GPT, into our technology and products.

AI is a topic from the 1950s. That’s a very long time ago. As you can imagine, we have a lot of international regulations and standards imposed on us to carefully integrate AI and add security mechanisms to make sure that if the system goes wrong, we are able to stop it and switch to a more deterministic technology.

We have all those features to prevent this from happening. But if it happens, we have to think of the AI itself, the environment where it runs, and all the added security features to prevent it from going wrong. We also train data carefully to avoid bias, ethical issues, or systems changing behavior based on who or what it sees. That’s very important.

Q: How does EDGE ensure its R&D efforts are commercially viable and operational, particularly in defense solutions? 

It’s always the same. We think that AI is a key enabler. If it’s a key enabler, we ask how impactful it will be. If we remove traditional use cases like object detection, object tracking, computer vision, we’ve been doing that for years. Those are not considered strategic R&D.

But take space situational awareness. We released something at IDEX called TACTICA. We transformed how we gather information, use it, and translate it into actionables. We’ve also been digitizing workflows. Imagine an operator looking at a sensor feed, you see something wrong, you need to validate that and send law enforcement. We digitize the workflow and insert the security gates needed.

We also moved from sequential to parallel processing. If partial information allows another action, we don’t wait for the full process to complete. That shortens the time, improves quality, increases efficiency and reaction time, which is critical for modern threats. That’s how we think about it.

Q: You mentioned your innovation team. Are there Emiratis on the team? What’s the background of your team?

As of today, we have four centers of excellence: Radar and Electronic Warfare, Electro-Optics, and AI and CONOPS. The AI and CONOPS are new and still ramping up. We’re hiring. In the Electro-Optics center, we have 78% UAE nationals, and on a team of 98, more than 70 are nationals. These are top-tier engineers who can design, manufacture, and integrate electronic systems for air and land.

We even have two teams capable of maintaining cutting-edge tech used by the Ministry of Defense – but I can’t give details. In the radar center, it’s about 60% nationals, also capable of top-class design and integration. Two standout products are the TAWAQ-S radar for border surveillance and the unique AL HARIS-X X-band radar for air defense. We focus on mentoring and building them to a level where they can lead teams of 10–12. It’s quite successful.

Q: From your perspective, how has EDGE helped make the UAE a leader in defense technology?

The launch of EDGE in 2019 was foundational to transforming Abu Dhabi and the UAE. The key message was, if you want to partner with EDGE and Abu Dhabi, you must bring your intellectual property to the table. That means both your background IP and the foreground IP. That was unheard of in the region in 2019. Other countries just paid for tech, but Abu Dhabi demanded capability transfer.

This bold decision helped EDGE reach the top 25 global defense contractors. We’re ranked around 21st or 22nd.  We developed sovereign capabilities and partnered only with companies willing to share IP and commit long-term. Today, we have 200 products, many among the best and most cost-effective in the world. Some are so strategic people don’t believe we developed them, but we did.

G42 invests with OpenAI, Nvidia to build massive data center

G42, the UAE’s flagship artificial intelligence company, took a big step in its bid to establish regional leadership in the booming field.

The Abu Dhabi-backed tech company, whose Chairman is National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, announced a partnership with OpenAI on Thursday to build an AI data center with a 1-gigawatt capacity that would make it one of the most powerful facilities in the world.

Among other investors in the Abu Dhabi data center called Stargate UAE – OpenAI’s first major project outside the U.S. – are Oracle, SoftBank, Nvidia, and Cisco.

G42 and OpenAI didn’t disclose a cost for the Abu Dhabi project, although similar projects planned in the U.S. run well over $10 billion, The Wall Street Journal reports. It said the data-center project is the fruit of months of negotiations between the UAE and the Trump administration that culminated in a deal last week to allow the U.A.E. to import up to 500,000 advanced AI chips a year.

Abu Dhabi’s Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, meanwhile, is planning next week’s graduation ceremony, where 104 students from 24 countries will get their degrees, including the six-year-old school’s first Emirati PhD graduate.

MBZUAI’s President Eric Xing told Bloomberg in an interview published today that he hopes to make his school the Stanford of the Gulf, pointing to the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship it cultivates, and its global influence.

Musk’s Neuralink to conduct trials at UAE’s Cleveland Clinic

Elon Musk’s Neuralink will team up with the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi to conduct the first clinical trials of its brain-chip technology outside America.

Neuralink’s futuristic chip is a brain-computer interface technology which is designed to improve the lives of paralysed patients by helping them control a computer by thought.

So far, it has only been tested on three people in the U.S. The trial program, to be called UAE-PRIME, was announced by the Department of Health Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, ahead of the arrival in the UAE of U.S. President Donald Trump and his billionaire-heavy delegation, which includes Musk.

Health Department chairman Mansoor Ibrahim Al Mansoori said the trial marked a significant step in developing life sciences in the region.

“In collaboration with Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, we are proud to enable the safe and responsible advancement of brain-computer interface technology, offering renewed hope to individuals living with severe neurological conditions,” Al Mansoori said.

Abu Dhabi is actively positioning itself as a launchpad for global health innovation and has been seeking further U.S. support for its newly announced $25.6 billion health cluster. 

Abu Dhabi bets on extending longevity with new biotech hub

The UAE, which created a ministry to promote tolerance and coexistence nearly 10 years ago, is now making longer life expectancy into a national project, tapping a young female biochemist to lead its investment campaign.

Fatma Almulla, an expert in Mideast healthcare finance, was appointed this month to head the Abu Dhabi Investment Office’s new initiative called HELM, which stands for Health, Endurance, Longevity and Medicine. The Mubadala sovereign wealth fund is a strategic partner.

In the new post, Almulla, 31, will seek to develop a cluster of alliances with some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies and healthcare firms – part of an effort to make the UAE a world leader in medical innovation. HELM aims to raise more than $11 billion in investment over the next 20 years.

“The UAE has the right to win in this global marathon,” Almulla said in an interview with The Circuit last week in Abu Dhabi. “In five years, I expect to see five big pharma companies with production facilities established here.”

Before assuming the HELM post, Almulla spent a decade abroad, earning two master’s degrees at the University of Glasgow and a doctorate in biochemical engineering at University College London. For the past two years, she’s worked at GKSD Investment Holding, a Milan, Italy-based consulting firm focused on healthcare and engineering, where she rose to become Vice President and Advisor to the Chairman on business development in the Middle East.

Almulla, who was named in 2023 to the Forbes Middle East “30 Under 30” list that spotlights the region’s upcoming leaders, said HELM will cultivate biotech startups in the UAE and Middle East through funding, mentorship and networking opportunities.

Fostering research in such fields as genomic medicines and advanced therapies through AI-powered diagnostics, Almulla said, should help people in the UAE lead longer and healthier lives.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How would you describe the mission of the new HELM initiative?

The cluster brings together an integrated and powerful ecosystem designed to drive innovation, attract global investments, and position Abu Dhabi as a global leader in life sciences. In this group, we are welcoming global pharma companies across biotech, pharma, MedTech, and digital health.

Not only big pharma companies. We also work with startups such as biotech and health tech ventures. We help them by linking them to our accelerators, such as Hub71, which gives them access to funding, mentorship, and networking opportunities in the Middle East. At its core, the cluster will enable advancements in genomic medicines, advanced therapies, and AI-powered diagnostics. Our niche is clear in terms of longevity and wellness.

Why is this program important for Abu Dhabi, in particular, and for the UAE and the Middle East overall?

The healthcare sector is very important. The size of this market is expected to grow to 93 trillion dirhams ($25.3 trillion) by 2045. Currently, the life sciences market alone is at 7.7 trillion dirhams and will grow to 40 trillion dirhams by 2045.

The UAE has the right to win in this global marathon. It has many advantages. For example, a third of the world’s population is within a four-hour flight from the UAE. More than 90% of global pharma companies have a presence in the UAE. We also have the second-largest national human genome project. Clinical trial approval in the UAE usually takes no more than 28 days, thanks to our streamlined regulators like the Department of Health.

We are helping these companies access the Middle East, Asia, and Africa regions, who are looking to expand in the region. As I mentioned with the market size and growth, there will be twice the demand for healthcare solutions. That means there will be a need for better and quicker therapies, advanced therapies, and genomic solutions.

How much investment can HELM potentially generate?

We expect the cluster will unlock 42 billion dirhams ($11.4 billion) in investments. It will contribute 94 billion dirhams in incremental GDP growth and create around 30,000 new jobs – all by 2045.

Which major institutions are supporting HELM?

Mubadala is one of our strategic partners. They already have a global life sciences investment platform. ADQ also has major investments in life sciences. Being part of the cluster allows us to leverage those assets. We collaborate with them to assess new investments. One of their recent investments was in a manufacturing platform, and now they are exploring bringing parts of that to Abu Dhabi.

We’re working with UAE University, Khalifa University, NYU Abu Dhabi, and Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. Partnerships with international universities are also in the pipeline. For regulations, we work with the Department of Health and the ADGM. For R&D, we work with Masdar as an innovation center. For infrastructure, we have KIZAD (Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi), Masdar, and the Abu Dhabi Airport Free Zone. For talent development, we partner with universities globally.

We still need to develop specialized programs in areas like biopharma, biotechnology, and genomics. We’re also creating opportunities for postdoctoral and postgraduate studies. Talent development is an integral part of the cluster.  We’ll know more when we announce deals with pharma companies.

In a nutshell, what are your short-term and long-term goals?

Our vision is for 2045. But in five years, I expect to see five big pharma companies with production facilities established here. Building a full substance and formulation facility takes about four to five years. Capital deployment happens immediately.

If we close deals in the next two years, I believe by the five-year mark, we’ll see many of the big pharma companies here. We’re already working with some of them – that will attract others.

Saudi LEAP conference chalks up $14.9 billion in new investments

Saudi Arabia kicked off its LEAP25 conference with a flurry of billion-dollar deals and a campaign to rebrand the kingdom as a cauldron of tech innovation on par with Europe.

Opening the annual LEAP event in Riyadh on Sunday night, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha ticked off a series of investments worth $14.9 billion that were due to be signed this week.

Al-Swaha attributed the kingdom’s tech growth to the Vision 2030 roadmap introduced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2017 to diversify the economy and wean it off its longtime dependence on oil sales.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” Al-Swaha said. “As a tech force, as His Royal Highness said, this region is the new Europe.” Based on the number of startups gestating in the kingdom, he said, Saudi Arabia would be the fifth largest tech hub if it were located in the EU zone.

Touted as the biggest tech exhibition in the world, LEAP25 attracts many of the major biggest players, including Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Dell, Cisco, SAP, Amazon Web Services, Alibaba and Huawei.

More than 1,800 international and local exhibitors, including 680 startups, are populating the exhibition floor at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center.

Among the deals announced at the event, Groq, a U.S.-based artificial intelligence firm, said it will invest $1.5 billion in a project developed with Saudi Aramco to launch the world’s largest AI inferencing data center in Saudi Arabia, Arab News reports.

U.S.-based Databricks pledged to invest $300 million over the next three years to upskill Saudi citizens, build the company’s business in the kingdom, and contribute to the local digital economy. SambaNova, another U.S. software firm, agreed to invest $140 million to build advanced AI infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.

Tara Brady, President of Google for Europe, the Middle East and Africa said the company will contribute $70 billion to the kingdom’s economy over the next 10 years.