How MBZUAI is boosting executive leadership

While MBZUAI might be best known for its groundbreaking academic research in various fields of artificial intelligence, it is also playing key role in innovating AI-powered solutions across industry and developing the UAE’s tech ecosystem. 

This wider function is supported by the University’s executive programs, which have so far empowered almost 240 senior leaders from the UAE’s private and public sectors to enact positive change within their organizations, as well as across society as a whole. 

The MBZUAI Executive Program (MEP) and MBZUAI Executive Program – Accelerated (MEP-A) have become core pillars of the University’s mission to advance AI as a global force for good, giving participants the technical, strategic and ethical tools they need to lead transformation. 

Cohort six of MEP begins in April with MEP-A opening later in the year, giving a new group of AI-invested leaders the opportunity to learn cutting-edge techniques and strategies that can make a difference to their organizations and the wider UAE. And according to MBZUAI’s Director of Professional Services, Dr. Ahmed Dabbagh, there couldn’t be a better time for leaders to apply for the programs. 

“The UAE now ranks fifth globally in AI competitiveness, driven by ambitious National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, making this is the ideal time for leaders to learn more about AI and how it can be implemented across their various sectors,” he says. 

“Our aim is to enable and empower leaders to not only benefit their organizations, but to be an integral part of the UAE’s growing AI ecosystem – helping it become even more robust and ethically-rooted during this exciting period of innovation and transformation.” 

The forthcoming programs come on the back of cohort five of MEP, which took place across 16 weeks between March and September 2024, welcoming participants from federal government, local authorities, start-ups and industry. Some 43% of participants were female, highlighting the gender balance MBZUAI strives to achieve across its programs. 

Instructors from MBZUAI, UC Berkeley, Oxford University, Harvard, MIT, and other institutions led modules on AI and its current paradigm shift, AI fundamentals, AI-driven industry changes, and AI strategy, policymaking and ethics. The program culminated in Capstone Projects that brought together participants’ learnings to help solve national or organizational sustainability challenges through AI.

The University’s first MEP-A, meanwhile, took place in October, providing its 32 participants with a condensed six-day version of the MEP, tailored to executives from companies such as Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Mubadala, Dubai Water & Electricity Authority, Department of Government Enablement, Abu Dhabi Ports, Department of Finance, and others. 

“We were proud to have graduated 37 leaders from cohort five of the MEP in 2024, as well as 32 participants in our inaugural MEP-A, bringing the total number of graduates from our executive programs to 235 since launch, adds Dabbagh.

“The curricula for both programs have been designed to reflect the changing market demand for AI skills, as well as AI’s rapid evolution, ensuring graduates are able to take meaningful plans, processes and policies back to their organizations, and start to build holistic approaches to AI.” 

Speaking at the first MEP-A graduation ceremony, Professor Timothy Baldwin, Provost and Professor of Natural Language Processing at MBZUAI, said: “MEP-A builds on the success of MEP by bringing some of the most important insights and learnings from the full course to a broader audience of global executives. 

“Feedback from the MEP-A graduates has been excellent, telling us that they found the course extremely valuable, particularly the site visits, and that they are confident they can adapt the learnings to their own organizations. Importantly, their newfound knowledge will help them implement AI in a safe and ethical manner.” 

The shortage of AI talent in industry has become increasingly stark in recent years, as organizations struggle to find or develop employees who can meet their AI aspirations. Deloitte’s 2025 State of AI in the Middle East Report, published in collaboration with MBZUAI, shows that 44% of organizations in the region evaluate their current AI talent pool as insufficient, hampering AI adoption. In fact, while more than 80% of organizations feel pressure to adopt AI, nearly 50% say they lack the talent and technology for successful scaling, according to the report. 

“Organizations have certainly struggled to hire high-quality AI talent, or develop their own, which is why executive programs such as MEP and MEP-A are so vital in today’s market,” says Dabbagh.

“By bringing driven and proactive leaders into direct contact with some of the brightest minds from the global AI community, we are creating a pipeline of talent that closes the gap between organizations’ ambitions and capabilities and helps put them in a strong position today and in the future.”