The UAE has set one of the most ambitious mandates in the world: transform 50% of government operations, services, and critical sectors through Agentic AI. But ambition at that scale demands more than strategy, it demands resilient digital foundations, sovereign infrastructure, and the governance frameworks to make AI deployment trustworthy at a national level.
Digital Readiness Retreat 2026 was where those two imperatives converged. Hosted by the Higher Committee for Government Digital Transformation, the event brought together ministers, policymakers, and technology leaders for a day of substantive dialogue on what it takes to build governments that are both resilient today and AI-native tomorrow.
As the Sovereign AI Partner of the retreat, Open Innovation AI was present not just in the audience, but on the keynote stage, at the signing table, and in the conversations shaping what comes next.
Dr. Abed on the Sovereign Agentic Workforce
A key highlight of the event was a keynote delivered by Dr. Abed Benaichouche, CEO and Co-Founder of Open Innovation AI, titled “The Journey Towards a Sovereign Agentic Workforce.” Positioned immediately before the closing session on Government 4.0, the presentation explored how governments can move beyond AI experimentation towards large-scale deployment of AI assistants and agents across public sector operations.
The keynote examined how every technological revolution has expanded human capability and argued that artificial intelligence represents the first technology capable of introducing an entirely new workforce. From education and healthcare to security, justice, and government services, agentic systems have the potential to operate alongside human employees, augmenting capacity and accelerating service delivery.
The session outlined the governance frameworks, validation mechanisms, and sovereign infrastructure required to move from AI experimentation to deployment at national scale, setting a clear direction for what realizing the 50% mandate will actually require in practice.
Launching OI AI Security
During the retreat, Open Innovation AI also introduced OI AI Security that is designed to help organizations assess, govern, monitor, and secure AI systems throughout their lifecycle.
The launch reflects a recognition that deploying AI at scale is only half the challenge. Securing it (knowing what’s inside a model, how it behaves under pressure, and whether it meets national compliance standards) is the other half.
OI AI Security is built to answer that question for government entities and enterprises operating in regulated environments.
Two Landmark Partnerships Signed at the Retreat
The retreat also served as a platform for significant ecosystem announcements that support the UAE’s sovereign AI ambitions.
In a signing ceremony attended by H.E. Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cybersecurity for the UAE Government, Open Innovation AI and du announced a strategic collaboration to accelerate the deployment of sovereign agentic AI capabilities across the UAE. The partnership combines Open Innovation AI’s sovereign AI platforms with du Tech’s National Hypercloud to help organizations build and operate AI systems while maintaining control over their data, operations, and governance.
The agreement reflects a shared commitment to enabling secure and sovereign AI adoption across both public and private sector organizations.
In parallel, Open Innovation AI announced that OI Apps are now available through Core42 Compass, expanding access to sovereign AI applications for enterprises across the region. This partnership simplifies the adoption of enterprise AI capabilities while supporting national objectives around digital transformation, innovation, and AI sovereignty.
Together, these initiatives represent important building blocks in the development of a broader sovereign AI ecosystem, connecting infrastructure providers, technology platforms, governance frameworks, and AI applications into a unified national capability.
What's Next
Throughout the event, one message remained consistent across discussions on resilience, digital government, and artificial intelligence: the future will increasingly be shaped by AI-native organizations and AI-enabled public services.
Digital Readiness Retreat 2026 demonstrated that the conversation is no longer centred on whether governments should adopt AI, but on how to operationalize it responsibly and at scale.
Through new partnerships, platform launches, and thought leadership contributions, Open Innovation AI continues to support that journey helping organizations build the secure, governed, and sovereign foundations required for the next generation of AI-powered government.
