Tech News
HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, University of Bahrain, Bahrain Polytechnic, and Huawei host the Opening Ceremony of Huawei ICT Competition 2023-2024 Regional Finals
Under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, His Majesty the King’s Representative for Humanitarian Work and Youth Affairs, and in partnership with the University of Bahrain and Bahrain Polytechnic, Huawei inaugurated the regional finals of the Huawei ICT Competition 2023-2024 today at Bahrain Polytechnic.
More than 27,500 students from over 600 universities across 21 Middle Eastern & Central Asian countries have participated in this year’s Middle East & Central Asia Huawei ICT Competition – marking the highest level of participation in the seven-year competition history. Since its launch in 2017, Huawei’s ME & CA ICT Competition has become the largest and most influential initiative in the region, a powerful program for cultivating ICT talent and improving ME & CA countries’ national competitiveness with ICT future leaders. The competition has received support and endorsements from UNESCO and more than 20 regional ministries, operators, and industry partners.
H.E. Mr. Ni Ruchi, the Ambassador of People’s Republic of China to the Kingdom of Bahrain, stated, “Focusing on future development and benefiting people around the world, the ICT Competition is a successful practice of Huawei. It creates opportunities for young people to learn advanced technologies and accumulate valuable experiences. It also provides a window for young people to have a deeper understanding of Huawei and China.”
Mr. Osama Alsayed, Deputy CEO – Corporate Affairs – Bahrain Polytechnic, expressed, “Bahrain Polytechnic took the opportunity to be an academic partner for this competition, which is a testament to our institution’s commitment to creating an environment where young minds can flourish. It is an honor to collaborate with Huawei, a global leader in technology and innovation, to host such a prestigious international competition at our campus. This partnership signifies our shared vision of developing talent, fostering innovation, and advancing the field of information and communication technology.”
Mr. Aziz Tang, CEO, Huawei Bahrain, said, “As we stand on the verge of a bold future, Huawei is honored to be a driving force in developing ICT talent in the region. Huawei ICT competition 2023-2024 has become a beacon for nurturing ICT talent and shaping the future leaders of the digital economy. This endeavor would not be achievable without the help of a supportive and encouraging ICT talent ecosystem. Let us embrace the spirit of collaboration and innovation as we witness the birth of future ICT leaders and architects of the digital future. Together, let us propel Bahrain and the broader region towards a brighter, more empowered future.”
Twenty-two teams consisting of 66 national winners from 11 Middle Eastern & Central Asian countries, including Bahrain, Pakistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, and Oman, will participate in exams, field trips and workshops in the Kingdom of Bahrain from December 19-21, 2023. Each team comprises of three students and one tutor. Iraq, Pakistan, Lebanon, and Saudi have three teams each, while Jordan, Kazakhstan, and Bahrain have two teams each. One team is participating from the UAE, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait each.
During this period, the students will participate in the Practice Competition that includes the Network, Cloud, and Computing Tracks. They will be tested on their theoretical knowledge and hands-on ICT skills, as well as their ability to work in a team. Participants will be ranked according to their scores for lab exams. The ‘Instructor Summit’ will also take place on the opening day, where Huawei will host insightful discussions on the vital role of public-private partnerships in bridging the digital talent gap and preparing students for a successful transition into the workforce. The tutors from regional universities will also share their best practices and strategies for leveraging technology in education.
The best performing teams will be crowned regional winners of the Huawei ICT Competition Middle East & Central Asia 2023-2024. They will move forward to the global finals of the Huawei ICT Competition, which will take place in May 2024 in China. The Closing and Awarding Ceremony will be held on December 21, 2023, at the University of Bahrain. A panel discussion featuring regional ICT leaders on the topic “Building the ICT talent ecosystem” will be held during the event as well.
Huawei ICT Competition is targeted at working with UNESCO, government authorities, colleges and universities in the Middle East & Central Asia to identify, support and grow the future leaders of ICT. The program attempts to bridge the gap between the classroom and the workplace, thus enhancing students’ future employment opportunitiesin the ICT sector through knowledge sharing on the latest ICT developments, international trends, and hands-on skills development training at Huawei’s state-of-the-art labs, R&D centers and facilities.
Huawei promotes innovation and creativityamong Middle East & Central Asia ICT students as they compete to win the national and regional finals and then the coveted international finals in Shenzhen.
Tech News
Anomali to Address the Next Phase of AI-Led Cyber Defense at GISEC 2026
Anomali, the leading global Managed Intelligence and Agentic SOC platform, announced its participation at GISEC Global 2026, taking place through 16-18 September at Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC), Expo City.
The company’s discussions at GISEC will center on Autonomous SOC with Governed AI, Agentic AI, Actionable Threat Intelligence and Unified Security Data Lake capabilities that are changing the manner in which security teams investigate threats, manage workflows and make decisions.
Samer Jadallah, Vice President, Middle East & Africa at Anomali, will represent the company at GISEC and will focus on the growing impact of AI on both attackers and defenders, emerging shifts in the threat landscape, including the need to counter CEO impersonation attacks as well as key challenges facing modern security teams. He will also highlight AI’s role is helping organizations respond more effectively to evolving threats, Anomali’s commitment to the region and ongoing product innovation and plans to expand adoption of the Anomali platform across global enterprises and government organizations.
A key focus at this year’s event will be the changing nature of cyberattacks. As threat actors promptly adopt AI to scale campaigns and further accelerate attacks, security operations centers (SOC) are under growing pressure to process rising volumes of alerts with limited resources. To help with this, Anomali will demonstrate how AI can support analysts in multiple ways like surfacing higher- value insights, reducing manual effort and enabling quicker, informed responses.
Visitors can find Anomali at Booth E156 and Booth A80.
- Event: GISEC Global 2026
- Booths: E156 and A80
- Location: Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC), Expo City
- Dates: 16 th to 18 September 2026
- Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm GST
Tech News
HONOR BRINGS ITS ALPHA PLAN TO LIFE AT LEAP 2026 WITH THE WORLD’S FIRST ROBOT PHONE AND RENEWED “DARE TO BE” BRAND DIRECTION
HONOR, a global leading AI device ecosystem company, concluded its participation at LEAP 2026, bringing its “ALPHA PLAN: From Vision to Reality” to life through the world’s first Robot Phone, advancements in robotics, cinematic imaging and connected AI experiences. The participation also marked HONOR’s renewed “Dare to Be” brand direction reflecting its continued transformation from a company predominantly known for smartphones into a broader global AI device ecosystem company.
Commenting on the participation, Lei Kunming, CMO HONOR Middle East & Africa said, “LEAP 2026 showed how HONOR’s ALPHA PLAN is moving from vision to reality. From the world’s first Robot Phone and Robotics to our connected ecosystem, we demonstrated how AI can work more naturally around people.” He added “Our ‘Dare to Be’ direction gives that transformation a stronger identity, with Saudi Arabia remaining central to our growth in AI and digital innovation.”
Bringing the HONOR Booth Experience to Life
Visitors explored HONOR’s expanding ecosystem through interactive experiences spanning sports, gaming, smart office, learning and everyday scenarios.
The booth demonstrated how smartphones, PCs, tablets, wearables and other smart devices can work together to deliver more seamlessly, across work, entertainment, sports and health, reflecting the ALPHA PLAN’s ambition to create a more intelligent, connected and human-centric ecosystem around the user.
Introducing the World’s First Robot Phone
At the centre of HONOR’s showcase was the world’s first Robot Phone, a defining proof point of the ALPHA PLAN and a new category combining AI, robotics and cinematic imaging.
Its integrated robotic gimbal can move, track subjects and respond to its surroundings, enabling more intuitive and proactive content creation. LEAP also marked the Robot Phone’s reveal for the Middle East and Africa, making the region the first overseas market to experience the new category.
HONOR also highlighted its collaboration with ARRI, bringing more than 100 years of professional cinema and image science expertise together with HONOR’s AI and robotics capabilities to make cinematic content creation more accessible to everyday users.
Advancing a Future Built on Human and AI Collaboration
Beyond the Robot Phone, HONOR showcased its ambitions in robotics through HONOR Robotics D1, reinforcing its vision of a future shaped not by humans competing against AI, but by humans working with AI to achieve more. The company also explored the future of AI devices and robotics through its LEAP keynote and panel discussions.
Entering a New “Dare to Be” Era
Reflecting this evolution, HONOR’s renewed“Dare to Be” direction reflects its evolution beyond individual devices towards an open AI ecosystem connecting technologies, industries and lifestyles. Supported by innovations including Agentic OS and AiMAGE, HONOR’s journey progresses from an intelligent phone to an intelligent ecosystem and, ultimately, an intelligent world.
Driving Growth Across MEA
HONOR entered LEAP with strong regional momentum. In H1 2026, the company grew by 35% while the Middle East smartphone market declined by 13%, making HONOR the only leading smartphone brand in the region to grow and the second-largest smartphone brand in the Middle East. This followed 73% year-on-year growth in Q1 2026.
Within this regional growth, Saudi Arabia remains a particularly important market for HONOR, supporting the company’s broader ambitions across AI devices and its connected ecosystem.
Strengthening HONOR’s AIoT Presence in Saudi Arabia
As part of this momentum, Saudi Arabia remains a strategic market for HONOR and an important part of the ALPHA PLAN. The Kingdom is now HONOR’s number one tablet market by share, while its AIoT business has grown by more than 500% and HONOR Earbuds Clip has surpassed 100,000 units sold locally.
Building on this strong foundation, HONOR continues to strengthen its presence through retail, after-sales, local partnerships and deeper engagement with the Kingdom’s technology ecosystem.
Tech News
greytHR expands agentic AI-powered HR execution across Middle East region with greytHR NAVOS

greytHR, a leading full-suite Human Resource Management System (HRMS) platform, launched greytHR NAVOS across the Middle East region, bringing agentic AI competencies directly into its platform. The new capability enables HR teams to find information, navigate workflows, while completing authorised HR activities through simple, natural-language commands.
The Middle East rollout comes as agentic AI begins to reshape HR functions globally. According to McKinsey’s August 2026 research on the agentic era of HR, roughly two-thirds of today’s HR activities, including recruitment, payroll, onboarding and benefits administration, could be largely automated by 2030.
Unlike conventional AI assistants that primarily focus on answering questions, greytHR NAVOS follows an execution-first approach, helping users move from finding information to initiating and completing supported HR actions. Its three core functions – Navigate, Operate, and Support – enable information and workflow discovery, authorised action execution and contextual guidance.
Girish Rowjee, Co-founder & CEO of greytHR, said: “We have evolved from a system that you work on, to a platform that works with you. As a full-suite HRMS, greytHR already connects the entire hire-to-retire lifecycle across key HR operations. With the launch of greytHR NAVOS, we are adding an agentic AI layer across this connected ecosystem, enabling users to manage everyday HR activities through conversational commands rather than searching through multiple menus or disconnected tools. Furthermore, greytHR NAVOS works within each organisation’s existing security and access controls, reducing administrative friction and accelerating everyday HR execution.”
greytHR NAVOS supports a wide range of workflows across core HR, leave and attendance, workforce management, performance management, recruitment, platform navigation and support. HR teams can use the capability to update employee information, generate and publish letters, access attendance records, manage leave and regularisations, support performance reviews, search for job openings and candidates, handle recruitment approvals and generate hiring content.
Based on early greytHR NAVOS usage in comparable markets, HR administrators have reported productivity savings of approximately five hours per week by replacing repetitive manual workflows with conversational requests. In one practical example, an attendance-muster export that previously required around five separate steps can be completed through a natural-language prompt in approximately 10 seconds. By simplifying routine processes and reducing time spent on software interfaces, greytHR NAVOS enables HR professionals to devote more time to employee engagement, workforce planning and strategic decision-making.
greytHR NAVOS operates within each organisation’s existing role-based access control (RBAC) system, ensuring that access to employee information and platform actions remains aligned with individual user roles and permissions. Moreover, sensitive or irreversible actions require explicit human confirmation before execution. The platform also maintains a traceable audit record of AI-assisted activity, including the initiating user, timestamp, prompt and action details. Meanwhile, greytHR’s established privacy, security, and governance framework extends to greytHR NAVOS, including alignment with SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001:2022, and GDPR frameworks, supported by human oversight.
The new capability is available across all paid greytHR plans, including essential, growth, and premium, with no per-seat AI fees, usage caps or separate purchase required.
The launch showcases the evolution of HRMS platforms from traditional systems of record towards systems of action, where technology can understand user intent, identify the relevant workflow and support the execution of the next authorised step.
greytHR currently supports over 34,000 organisations and 3.5 million users across over 30 countries, providing a strong foundation for expanding its agentic AI capabilities across the Middle East region. With greytHR NAVOS, the company is helping regional businesses simplify HR administration and narrow the gap between intent and execution.
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