The second edition of the School of Cyber Defense competition reached its final at GISEC GLOBAL 2026, bringing the strongest student cybersecurity teams in the UAE to Dubai Exhibition Centre, Expo City. Building on its 2025 debut, the competition came back larger in scale and tougher in format: this year, participants had to do more than defend systems. They had to design working solutions to real industry challenges.

The competition was hosted by the Dubai Electronic Security Center (DESC) and organized by Techfirm. It drew more than 350 applications from students at more than 30 universities across the country. The road to the final ran through three stages:

Qualification. More than 300 participants from over 90 teams completed an automated, scenario-based qualification round. Over 90% of active teams scored above the 70% threshold needed to advance.

Case challenge. More than 70 teams submitted solutions to one of 15 official challenge briefs. An expert jury assessed each submission on fit to the brief, relevance, a working prototype, technical depth and innovation.

Live final. Only the seven highest-scoring teams reached the GISEC stage, fewer than one in ten of the teams that submitted a case. Finalists presented and defended their solutions live in front of the jury. The finalists represented BITS Pilani Dubai, American University of Sharjah, Al Ain University, Middlesex University Dubai, University of Wollongong in Dubai, University of Dubai and Abu Dhabi Polytechnic.

Winners of the School of Cyber Defense 2026:

• 1st Place: Unlisted (Middlesex University Dubai)
• 2nd Place: AUSec (American University of Sharjah)
• 3rd Place: ADPoly CyberGuard (Abu Dhabi Polytechnic)

The competition featured a prize pool worth AED 55,000, shared among the winning teams.

The competition was made possible by partners committed to developing young talent and strengthening the region’s cybersecurity workforce. The Competition Industry Partners include AMD, Dahua Technology, Kaspersky, KERNO and M1 Global Infrastructure. The Competition Gold Partners are Anker Innovations, Circularo, HPE, Huawei, KnowBe4, RAS Infotech and Spire Solutions. Secureway is the Competition Silver Partner.

Now in its second year, the School of Cyber Defense has become a recurring platform where the UAE’s future cybersecurity professionals test their skills against the demands of the real industry.

Nemetschek Arabia, part of the Nemetschek Group, one of the world’s leading software providers for the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operations (AEC/O) industry, is showcasing its vision for the future of facilities management at SFMA EXPO 2026, which is taking place at the Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center (RICEC).

Participating as a Golden Sponsor, Nemetschek Arabia is demonstrating how connected digital technologies can help organizations improve operational efficiency, enhance asset performance, and support more sustainable outcomes across the entire facility lifecycle. Visitors to Booth G02 at the event will have the opportunity to explore solutions from Bluebeam, Spacewell, GoCanvas, and Nemetschek dTwin, each designed to help facility owners and operators connect people, processes and data through integrated digital workflows.

“Facilities management is becoming increasingly strategic as organizations seek new ways to maximize asset performance, improve sustainability, and deliver better experiences for occupants and stakeholders,” said Eng. Muayad Simbawa, Managing Director of Nemetschek Arabia. “The future of the sector will be defined by connected ecosystems where people, data and technologies work together seamlessly. Through our participation at SFMA EXPO 2026, we are demonstrating how digital twins, smart workplace solutions, connected workflows and real-time operational intelligence can help organizations unlock greater value from their facilities while supporting the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 ambitions.”

Empowering organizations to build smarter facilities

At the exhibition, visitors can experience how Bluebeam enables seamless collaboration across project and operations teams, helping stakeholders work more efficiently with accurate and accessible information. Meanwhile, Spacewell empowers smarter workplace and facility management through data-driven insights and intelligent operations, while GoCanvas streamlines field processes through digital forms and real-time data capture. And Nemetschek dTwin showcases the power of digital twins in transforming facility operations through real-time asset visibility, predictive maintenance and performance optimization.

As part of its participation, Nemetschek Arabia experts will also contribute to the event’s thought leadership program. Muayad Simbawa will participate in a panel discussion titled “Enhancing Organizational Performance: Hybrid Work Models, Data Analytics, and Advanced Management Technologies,” exploring how organizations can leverage emerging technologies and data-driven insights to adapt to a rapidly evolving business landscape. In addition, Ahmad Hisham Khairat, Regional Presales Engineer, and Ahmad Al Zaben, Technical Consultant, will share their perspectives on the role of BIM, digital twins and integrated digital ecosystems in transforming facility operations and management.

Further reinforcing its commitment to advancing the facilities management sector, Nemetschek Arabia is building on its strategic collaboration with the Saudi Facility Management Association (SFMA) announced earlier this year. The partnership focuses on accelerating digital transformation, knowledge exchange, workforce development and the adoption of innovative technologies that support smarter and more sustainable facilities across the Kingdom.

SFMA EXPO 2026 brings together facility management leaders, technology providers and industry experts from across the region to explore the trends, innovations and strategies shaping the future of the sector. Visitors can learn more about Nemetschek Arabia’s solutions at Booth G02 throughout the event.

Core42, a G42 company specializing in AI infrastructure and sovereign-enabled cloud, today signed a strategic collaboration agreement with the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), to expand locally developed digital sovereignty and cybersecurity capabilities in the UAE. Signed at GISEC Global 2026, the agreement reflects a shared commitment to developing home-grown security capabilities and contributing to the UAE’s sovereign technology ecosystem.

Strategic collaboration to develop and evaluate UAE-built sovereignty and security technologies for Core42’s sovereign-enabled cloud and Compass AI platforms.

The collaboration brings together Core42’s sovereign-enabled cloud and AI capabilities with TII’s cybersecurity research and technology development expertise to explore how UAE-developed security technologies can strengthen the protection, resilience and compliance of sovereign digital infrastructure and AI environments. As part of the agreement, Core42 and TII will collaborate on the co-development, evaluation, and deployment of security-enhancing technologies across Core42’s sovereign-enabled cloud and Compass, its generative and agentic AI platform. The scope includes hardware security modules, confidential computing, encrypted AI inferencing, secure key management and distribution, data protection mechanisms, encryption technologies and trusted computing capabilities.

The framework reflects a broader focus on developing critical technology capabilities within the UAE and creating pathways for home-grown innovation to address real-world cloud and AI sovereignty and security requirements. As organizations increasingly deploy sensitive data and AI workloads across cloud environments, protecting data, infrastructure, models and communications using cryptographic solutions is becoming an increasingly important component of sovereign technology architecture. The initiative also reinforces the UAE’s growing role as a center for advanced technology development, and Core42’s contribution to an ecosystem where sovereign infrastructure can increasingly be secured through technologies developed within the country.

Rajeev Nair, Senior Vice President, Special Projects, Core42, said: “Sovereignty means more than deciding where data and infrastructure reside; it is also about building the technology capabilities required to protect them from all angles. Working with TII gives us an opportunity to evaluate and advance UAE-developed sovereignty and cybersecurity technologies against the requirements of sovereign-enabled cloud and AI environments. By connecting local research and technology development with real-world platforms and use cases, we are helping build an ecosystem where the UAE is not simply adopting advanced technologies, but increasingly developing the capabilities that underpin them. This helps strengthen the country’s position as a global hub for trusted technology development.”

Dr. Victor Juan Mateu, Chief Researcher, Cryptography Research Center TII, said: “At TII, we are focused on translating advanced research into technologies that strengthen the UAE’s sovereign capabilities and address real-world security challenges. Our collaboration with Core42 creates an important pathway to evaluate and advance locally developed cybersecurity and trusted computing technologies within sovereign cloud and AI environments. By bringing together deep research expertise and real-world platforms, we can accelerate the journey from breakthrough innovation to practical deployment and contribute to a more secure and resilient technology ecosystem in the UAE.”