Saudi Arabia’s $100 billion Project Transcendence is shifting from a broad investment vision to a more targeted AI and data center strategy. Enterprise pressure to keep pace is growing. The AI Leadership Summit & Awards 2027 brings together business and technology leaders to build the governance, operating models, and investment discipline to capture that opportunity
AI spending in Saudi Arabia is set to grow nearly fivefold by 2029. But only half of Saudi organizations consider themselves ready to take full advantage of AI. The gap between investment and impact is where leaders need a framework. The AI Leadership Summit is built for the executives closing that gap. What you will take away:
Board-Led AI Strategies
Defining enterprise direction, investment priorities and competitive advantage in the AI era.
Innovation vs Productivity
Balancing new revenue creation with substantial revenue-per-employee gains.
Organizational Transformation in the AI Era
Transforming organizational models for human + AI collaboration.
The Autonomous Enterprise
Moving from AI-assisted processes to autonomous, agent-driven enterprise operations
Enterprise Architecture for the AI Era
Evolving the tech stack with a guiding business architecture.
AI-Enabled Operating Models
Redesigning workflows, decision-making and execution for the AI era.
Trust at Enterprise Scale
Building scalable governance, oversight and transparency into enterprise AI systems.
Measuring AI ROI at Enterprise Scale
Reshaping how productivity is measured across every Line of Business.
By 2028 AI spending across the Middle East and Africa will reach $25.6 billion, growing at 35% CAGR
Sources: IDC’s Worldwide AI and Generative AI Spending Guide — Forecast 2025 (August); IDC’s AI Tech Buyer Survey 2025, KSA (n = 56)
Associate Research Director, Artificial Intelligence (META)
IDC
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In his role as associate research director for IT services and software across the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META), Melih drives IDC’s regional research and consulting engagements in the areas of IT services, Cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), and intelligent automation.
He first joined IDC in 2012 as a senior research analyst located out of IDC’s Istanbul office, with various responsibilities for the firm’s IT services, cloud computing, software, and telecom domains — both in Turkey and across the wider META region. Between 2016 and 2021, Melih headed the international marketing and investor relations practice at P.I. Works, a global automation and AI software vendor that serves telecom operators.
Now back at IDC, Melih is leveraging his vast experience in the IT services, cloud, software, and telecommunications domains to advise clients on go-to-market strategies, technology marketing and promotion activities, and market trends analysis. He is also driving a wide variety of research and consulting projects across the META region.
Melih has also previously served as enterprise channel and marketing manager at Nortel Turkey and as business development and strategy manager at Netaş, one of the leading systems integrators in Turkey and a former Nortel subsidiary. He possesses a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and received his MBA from Esslingen University of Applied Sciences in Germany. He has worked as a business development specialist at HP and wrote his MBA thesis for the company, covering European retail channel trends and winning strategies for channel businesses.
Set the Saudi AI Strategy
Build an investment thesis aligned to Vision 2030 and SDAIA priorities, not just global best practice.
Govern with Discipline
Navigate PDPL, CITC mandates, and SAMA regulations while maintaining the velocity Saudi enterprises need.
Quantify the Value
Move beyond pilot metrics. Translate AI investment into measurable revenue-per-employee gains across Saudi’s key sectors: energy, finance, and government.
Lead the Change
Build AI talent pipelines, Saudization-compatible operating models, and the culture to sustain an AI-Fueled Enterprise.
How leaders move beyond AI experimentation to enterprise-wide orchestration, and what it takes to turn fragmented pilots into operational impact in the agentic economy.
Agentic AI will enhance the capabilities of more than 40% of enterprise applications by 2027. How IT and business leaders are governing, costing and scaling the shift.
The CIO is now the chief orchestrator of the intelligent enterprise. The ten IDC predictions defining the agentic, quantum-aware and edge-intelligent enterprise.
