Rooted In Resolve: Technology Innovation Institute CEO Dr. Najwa Aaraj

Dr. Najwa Aaraj is today the CEO of the UAE’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII), but it’s a position that she didn’t see herself in—at least not for a fairly long time.

You see, before she got appointed to the helm of the Abu Dhabi–based global research center in May last year, she served as Chief Researcher at both the Cryptography Research Center and the Autonomous Robotics Research Center at TII, and these were roles that she felt were more in line with her background as a technologist. With more than two decades of experience in critical applied research behind her, Dr. Aaraj’s hesitation to take on a CEO title stemmed from a fear that it would force her to set her technical passions aside.

But Dr. Aaraj now acknowledges that this was a misconception on her part—in fact, she has found leading TII to be less about leaving research behind, and more about amplifying its impact in the real world. “I thought being a CEO meant that I’d have to forget about doing any technical work,” she tells Inc. Arabia. “Of course, I’ve since learned that this is not true, but this was the impression that I had before. But things, you know, never pan out as planned, and now, actually, it’s my privilege to be leading such an organization, and to be dealing with so many intelligent and smart people across so many disciplines.”

This is not to say that leading TII as CEO comes without challenges, but Dr. Aaraj is choosing to meet them in the manner that she always has as a scientist—with perseverance, persistence, and the rigor to get it right. “To me, personally, giving up is not an option at all, and I always like to see through the work I start,” she shares. “I take measured and calculated decisions on when I have to stop something, because it doesn’t make sense physically, realistically, commercially, or financially—but if I can see something through, I will see it through.”

Dr. Najwa Aaraj, CEO, TII. Image courtesy TII.

This resolve that defines Dr. Aaraj’s persona is equally evident in the vision of the institution that she leads today. TII falls under the purview of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), which aims “to establish a vibrant research and development ecosystem” in the emirate, and in doing so, position it—and the wider UAE—as “a key technology player on the world stage.” As ATRC’s applied research pillar, TII occupies the middle ground, flanked on one side by ASPIRE, the tech transition arm that channels industry needs into the institute, and on the other by VentureOne, the commercialization arm that translates breakthroughs to businesses.

While its remit spans cutting-edge tech sectors like artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, cryptography, quantum, directed energy, and more, Dr. Aaraj highlights that TII’s mandate is not simply to publish papers or test theories. Instead, the work its labs undertake is always aimed at finding pathways into real-world applications, and therefore feeds directly into the UAE’s emerging tech ecosystem. What makes TII stand out, therefore, is its focus on, as Dr. Aaraj puts it, “research with a purpose.”

It is to TII’s credit then that, since its launch in May 2020, it has been recognized both regionally and globally for its pioneering work in a variety of disciplines. Its most visible work has perhaps been in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), with the Falcon large language model series that it engineered becoming one of the most widely adopted open-source models from the Middle East. A more recent innovation has been Manarat, which is a custom-developed control electronics platform that is to be, as TII puts it, “a key enabler for building the powerful quantum machines of the future—systems with the potential to reshape industries from healthcare to energy.”

Meanwhile, in the realm of directed energy, TII came out with a two-micrometer thulium-based fiber laser this September, which was touted as setting new benchmarks in performance, safety, and versatility across fields like medicine manufacturing and materials processing. That same month, TII also tied up with tech giant NVIDIA to unveil a first-of-its-kind hub in the Middle East for developing next-generation AI models, robotics platforms, and humanoid technologies that are expected to accelerate innovation across industries.

Manarat is a custom-developed control electronics platform that is to be, as TII puts it, “a key enabler for building the powerful quantum machines of the future—systems with the potential to reshape industries from healthcare to energy.” Image courtesy TII.

Looking at all of these milestones together, it might seem like TII has a penchant for racking up pioneering breakthroughs; however, Dr. Aaraj is quick to point out that being ‘the first’ is not a goal the organization sets for its endeavors. “Look, being ‘the first’ is a plus, but what is important in this field is to innovate,” she explains. “The focus is to work on technology that matters—technology that moves the needle, contributes to multiple fields and multiple sectors, and can be used in reality, not something that we shelve. And of course, we always look for excellence in everything that we do, and if we end up being the first, then so be it—but this is not where we start; it’s not coûte que coûte (French for ‘at all costs’). No, we don’t take shortcuts to knowledge, we don’t take shortcuts to engineering, we don’t take shortcuts to development. But we always aim to contribute meaningfully to innovation and technology.”

That insistence on depth has also defined Dr. Aaraj’s own path. After earning a bachelor’s degree in computer and communication engineering from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, she moved to the United States to pursue a doctorate at Princeton University. While she had initially planned to focus her study on semiconductor circuit design, that changed when she witnessed a team led by Princeton University Professor Edward Felten demonstrate how electronic voting machines (which were introduced in the US that year) could be hacked. The episode piqued her interest, and it was a moment that would go on to set the course for her career, with her deciding to switch to a PhD in applied cryptography and embedded systems security.

After completing her studies, Dr. Aaraj went on to work in research roles at multinationals like IBM and Intel in the US, and eventually at the erstwhile consulting firm, Booz & Company (now Strategy&) a move that got her to start working in the UAE. It was then, while advising for a UAE government entity, that she met HE Faisal Al Bannai, who is today the Secretary General of ATRC, but, at the time, was the founder of a cybersecurity startup in the UAE called DarkMatter. She ended up becoming one of the first employees of his enterprise, which eventually grew into a US$400 million business.

In the time Dr. Aaraj spent at DarkMatter, she recalls having conversations with Al Bannai on the need to establish a research organization in the UAE that would create advanced tech that would be sovereign and strategic, with commercial potential that’d enable the activation of an entire ecosystem around tech and startups in the country. “These were discussions that happened much before TII came into being,” Dr. Aaraj remembers. “But His Excellency is a man with bold vision and strong leadership—he’s a man that makes things happen. And so, when TII launched and became a reality, given my background in academia, research, corporate, and management, being part of an institute that dealt with AI, cryptography, quantum, directed energy, and everything else was simply a dream come true. It was a no brainer for me to decide that this was something I would move to, and to help set up.”

TII came out with a two-micrometer thulium-based fiber laser this September, which was touted as setting new benchmarks in performance, safety, and versatility across fields like medicine manufacturing and materials processing. Image courtesy TII.

In her initial role at TII, Dr. Aaraj led work in the research and development of cryptographic and quantum communication technologies, and she also oversaw the advancement of autonomous robotics and self-navigating vehicles. Now, given the scope of Dr. Aaraj’s work then and her aforementioned reluctance to take on a CEO title, it seems safe to say that her promotion in 2024 must have taken some getting used to. Dr. Aaraj doesn’t deny this, but she also points out, “Look, I think there’s nothing easy, but there is nothing too hard if you set your mind on doing it right.” Such a mindset would explain the enthusiam with which Dr. Aaraj now essays her role as CEO of TII. “One of the things I enjoy the most is connecting the dots between all the technological areas that we cover at TII,” she shares. “How does AI serve security, for instance? How does quantum work with robotics? How does robotics work with climatetech? All of this is very, very interesting to me.”

Of course, overseeing so many different disciplines also comes with its own challenges, particularly when they fall outside Dr. Aaraj’s areas of expertise. Add to that the managerial side of her position, which can be daunting at times, not least because of the range of personalities she has to work with. “Many times as a CEO, you need to make difficult decisions on, for example, projects to stop, or restructuring that will ensure that we focus on the right things…,” she says. “It’s never easy, and yes, it takes a toll on you as a person. But, you know, you deal with it in the best way possible, then, you move on, and the next time, you’d have learned how to deal with it in a better way.”

Much of this perhaps comes down to temperament, and here, Dr. Aaraj suggests that being a female figure in a male-dominated landscape does come with benefits. “As women, I do believe that we’re more patient, we’re more empathetic,” she says. “So, when you need to work as a team, many times, the reality is that conflicts can arise, and we’re better at getting that [sorted]. Perseverance is also something we’re good at. We tend to see things through. I personally cannot see myself giving up on something without having tried, say, a hundred times. But I also know how to let go when the time comes, when to to take a call on something that’s not working, and deciding to move on to something else, or simply looking at a different approach. Also, a woman’s intuition is good when it comes to these kinds of things, if I do say so myself!”

These traits, however, are only part of the story—the environment matters too. And from Dr. Aaraj’s perspective, being in the UAE has been especially conducive to her role as a female leader in tech. “When it comes to challenges of being a woman amongst a big population of men in this kind of a career, I must say that it’s been easier in the UAE than any other country I’ve been in,” she shares. “There is a big realization here of the significant role that women can play in this field, and the respect that you see here for women—in the workplace and in general—is unanimous. This is not something you see in many other places, especially in cultures where such spaces have traditionally been male-dominated. I’ve been in those places, and it hasn’t been easy. But in the UAE, it’s much easier to be a woman in tech in general, but also one in a leadership position.”

Dr. Najwa Aaraj, CEO, TII. Image courtesy TII.

Such aspects about the UAE also add a personal edge to Dr. Aaraj’s motivations as the CEO of TII. “The UAE is home to me; it is the country where I’ve lived the largest stretch of my life,” she shares. “So, this is home, and I would like to give back to the country, and I would also like to give back to the region. Not many people know this, but the Arab world is where many of the world’s first scientific discoveries came from, and, today, the UAE is a beacon of hope for this region reclaiming that legacy… So, it feels like a duty, a mission, and a personal drive to contribute to all of this.” It helps, then, that Dr. Aaraj has a vantage point that makes this commitment tangible. “As the CEO of TII, and even in general as the leader of an organization in the UAE, you can really see the impact that your work is having on a country level, and also on a global scale,” she points out. “And this is very, very valuable.”

Looking ahead, Dr. Aaraj is clear about where she wants TII’s efforts to lead. “One of our main mandates is to build sovereign technologies in the UAE, and to build and support an ecosystem that will start exporting technology to the world, and thereby turn the country into a technology hub,” she says. “We’ve been working towards this goal, and we’ve already had many technologies that have made it out. But I’d like to see this impact amplified in terms of the number of tech that we have exported and deployed, the number of startups that the organization has established, and also in the valuations of startups that are coming out of the UAE.”

It’s this vision that shapes the guidance Dr. Aaraj offers those seeking to build careers in the region’s tech sector today. “I see a lot of young talent that do engineering degrees, but because they cannot be patient enough to get the acquired, practical, hands-on knowledge, they choose to move into management… And this is not only in the region, I’m talking overall,” she notes. “Patience, especially for the new generation, is not their forte, and it is something that we need them to work a little bit more on. They have to recognize the process. They have to understand that there is no shortcut to knowledge. They have to celebrate the learning. They have to put the efforts in, to see it through, and own the result. This is super, super important.”

Once again, this is a reflection of Dr. Aaraj’s own beliefs—as she puts it, “To me, there is never a shortcut to knowledge, and trying to shortcut it doesn’t work.” It’s a philosophy that makes it clear that while Dr. Aaraj may not have set out to be the CEO of TII, being at its helm is exactly where she needs to be. Leadership, after all, is defined less by title than by tenacity, and for the ambitions that TII is pursuing, it may well be this spirit that makes all the difference.