Future of digital infrastructure will depend on trust, resilience and collaboration

The next era of artificial intelligence will be built on more than just algorithms and computing power. It will be built on something far more fundamental: trusted infrastructure.

That was the central message emerging from the inaugural UAE Data Center Infrastructure & Cloud Summit 2026, hosted by the UAE Cybersecurity Council, supported by the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, and organised by Intellicon Events.

In his keynote address, Dr. Mohamed Al-Kuwaiti, Head of Cybersecurity, UAE Government, made it clear that the future of AI adoption depends on collaboration and security being embedded from the beginning. “The UAE has set tremendous ambitions in this space. Within less than two years, 50% of government services are expected to operate through AI agents and agentic frameworks in a safe and secure manner,” he said.

Dr. Al-Kuwaiti highlighted the importance of developing infrastructure capable of supporting smart cities, autonomous systems and AI-enabled public services while maintaining sovereignty and resilience. “We cannot achieve this alone. We need everybody to help us achieve these goals,” he said, emphasising the importance of partnerships between government, technology companies, infrastructure operators and innovators.

Industry leaders highlighted that data centres have now become the backbone of economies.

“Just a few years ago, data centres were often seen as something that sat quietly in the background. Today they are the background of almost everything,” said summit moderator Thomas Kuruvilla, Managing Partner, Arthur D Little.

The discussion around resilience extended beyond cybersecurity into data architecture, cloud strategy and national infrastructure planning.

Daniel Valle, CEO of SCC Middle East, argued that organisations need to rethink the way they view data in the age of agentic AI. “Your data is no longer just something you keep in a system. Your data becomes the machine behaviour, it becomes the decision it makes, it becomes who your organisation is,” he said, underscoring the importance of data hygiene.

According to Valle, the rise of AI agents creates a new responsibility for organisations: ensuring that systems acting on their behalf reflect their values, rules and identity.

“Your data is your identity. Don’t give it away,” he said, highlighting the growing importance of data governance, sovereignty and responsible exchange.

As AI workloads increase demand for computing power, experts emphasised that the future of data centres will depend on sustainable energy strategies and intelligent resource management.

Dr. Eng. Adnan Ali Hassan Al Hosani, Director of Electricity and Energy Trade Department at the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, stressed that digital and energy planning must evolve together.

“We need to build power infrastructure and data centre infrastructure together, in parallel,” he said.

Highlighting that smarter systems would be essential to optimise energy usage, particularly as data centre demand fluctuates depending on workloads, he said: “We need smarter systems using advanced AI, trusted infrastructure and trusted data sharing.”

The importance of effective data governance was also highlighted by Piyush Mehta, Chief Executive Officer of Data Dynamics, who argued that successful AI adoption begins with strategy rather than technology.

“It always starts with strategy. Do you have alignment across management on what your objectives are? What are you trying to accomplish?” he said. Warning that organisations often underestimate the complexity of managing large volumes of data, he added: “One of the big reasons many AI projects fail is the sheer proliferation of data that exists without the right context around it. It is garbage in, garbage out; bad input leads to bad output.”

Mansoor Khan, Chief Technology Officer at Neurovia AI, stressed that nations and companies face a difficult balancing act in the AI era: investing aggressively enough to remain competitive while ensuring they do not compromise sovereignty or sustainability.

“The key message is that organisations need to become more proactive rather than reactive. We focus on the longer term. We look at curing chronic diseases instead of just treating acute illnesses,” he said.

Khan described adaptability as one of the UAE’s key strengths, enabled by its global partnerships, technology ecosystem and access to international capital markets. “The UAE is a global hub, giving us access to international technology companies and global innovation ecosystems,” he said.

Bringing together more than 400 senior government officials, CIOs, CTOs, CISOs, data centre operators, cloud providers and technology innovators, the summit discussed best practices necessary for an AI-driven future.

Leading speakers at the summit included Yousif Al Ali, Chief Executive Officer, EtihadWE; Saud Al Dhawyani, Executive Director – Digital Cloud & Infrastructure Operations, Department of Government Enablement; Najyb Al Maskari, Executive Director – Government Cybersecurity Operations, Department of Government Enablement; Joseph Nadi, Chief AI & Technology Officer, TAMM – Abu Dhabi Government Services; Abdulla Alkayoumi, Managing Director, MSTS, Masdar; and Dr. Rizwan Tufail, Group Chief Data Officer, PureHealth.