Fast Company Middle East will bring Taste of Innovation, an established Fast Company event series, to Dubai and the region for the first time, as part of Dubai Future Week. Dubai Future Week, organized by @DubaiFuture from 18–21 November 2026, is expected to bring together more than 10,000 people across Emirates Towers and the @MOTF to explore how we will live, think, innovate, feel and do business in the decades ahead, all under the theme “For the Human of the Future”. Rather than discussing the future only on stage, Taste of Innovation invites guests to encounter it through taste, conversation, and experimentation. Register for priority ticket access: event.fastcompanyme.com/tast… #TasteOfInnovation

The six scientists honored this year by L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science are working on interesting areas of research. They are looking at how we can combat respiratory viruses, image the human body, build medicine around individual biology, harvest water from the air, and extract value from industrial waste. They are based in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and Syria, and what unites them is not a single field of science but a belief that science developed in the context of this region, to meet the needs of this region, can have a very significant impact beyond the region itself. “I went from asking ‘how does the virus affect us?’ to asking ‘how can we be better prepared to stop it?'” shares Hadeel Zedan, a biomedical researcher at @QatarUniversity. “Watching an emerging virus impact my own community really cemented my desire to understand how science could be used to better prepare societies for the next outbreak,” shared Dr. Aljawharah Alrubayyi, Saudi infectious disease scientist at @KAUST_News. Alaa Mansour Almushaikeh, a Saudi applied physicist at KAUST, was intrigued by a different problem altogether: the inherent compromise in X-ray imaging. “I saw an opportunity to look at the material itself,” she says, “not just at the way we image but at what we image with.” “I’m not actually treating patients, I’m working on technologies that could ultimately provide clinicians with tools to help them understand disease and make treatment decisions,” shared Jawaher Alhammadi, an Emirati medical engineer at KAUST. “I don’t see research as just a means to get papers or build a career,” she says Marieh Al Handawi, a Syrian scientist at @NYUAbuDhabi. “For me, it’s a way of using the opportunities I’ve had to work on issues that matter to people and to future generations.” The idea that something normally discarded could be a feedstock for a renewable fuel was the seed of it all, and it became the bedrock of her career. Sara H. Alaraimi, an Omani biotechnologist at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences, says, “I don’t want my research to just be about describing an environmental problem. I want it to be about solving that problem and, if possible, recovering value at the same time.” Read more: fastcompanyme.com/impact/the…

Through its Terroirs du Liban brand, Fair Trade Lebanon works with over 50 cooperatives representing roughly 1,500 producers—two-thirds of whom are women, exporting artisanal goods like za’atar, kishk, grape molasses, and extra virgin olive oil to Europe, Canada, and the United States. “What we see now is women taking on the business functions that used to sit with intermediaries: managing quality certifications, product development, costing and pricing, packaging, and negotiating with exporters,” says Laurent-Marc Gharzani, director of projects and coordination at @FairTradeLeb. As rural women transition from invisible farmhands to primary breadwinners, traditional village structures are adapting to a new equilibrium. Read more: fastcompanyme.com/impact/how…

In the Jordan Valley, Reeman Dweik, destination narrative strategist at Project Narrate, led ORANJ—a project in Deir Alla under the UNDP’s Food Systems Resilience program. “A woman paid a daily wage to pick oranges has nothing of her own to turn into a brand. Instead of selling the orange, we built an experience around it: orange pickle, candied orange peel, tree planting, and a farm stay. We gave it a name, packaging, and a story that belongs to the place,” says Dweik.

In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Palestinian Heritage Trail has applied a similar ethos across more than 90 local communities, partnering with over 40 women’s cooperatives. “We trained women cooperatives on lunches during the trail, and homestays on what to prepare when hosting travelers… A lady called Ayat Mardawi, an active member in a women’s cooperative, became a local family host and now runs a homestay business hosting over 20 people. We provided a $20,000 grant for her expansion,” shares George Rishmawi, director of the Palestinian Heritage Trail.

Official data point to a persistent gap in women’s labor-force participation across the Levant. For generations, much of that labor has been unpaid family work or seasonal work without reliable social protection. Now, agritourism platforms, food cooperatives and direct-export projects are helping some women retain a greater share of the value they create. Since 2015, Bookagri has trained and rehabilitated over 300 women across Jordan’s governorates, designing more than 50 hands-on agricultural experiences. Travelers pay around $35 per person for a one-to-two-hour immersive visit, learning to harvest produce, bake traditional breads, or prepare regional dishes. “Bookagri’s community of rural women and households had so much debt on their shoulders, and they did not have any bank accounts,” says Rudaina Haddad, founder and CEO of BookAgri. “They now have bank accounts and no debt at all… they paid for their kids’ education and rents and expanded their agriculture.”

#InTheNews: HH Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, UAE Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, inaugurated the Emirate’s first business consultancy in China. Located in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province and one of China’s leading economic and industrial centers, the consultancy will serve as a leading platform dedicated to strengthening Ras Al Khaimah’s engagement with Chinese businesses, facilitating new partnerships and expanding cooperation across key sectors. Addressing attendees, HH Sheikh Saud said: “Our history and our experience have taught us that partners look beyond opportunity alone. They seek stability, transparency, governance and commitment. This is the environment we have built in Ras Al Khaimah.” “Today, we take a meaningful step forward in our partnership, inaugurating Ras Al Khaimah’s first business consultancy here in Guangzhou. By establishing this consultancy, we create a lasting home along our shared path. We connect our people, our cultures and our industries. In doing so, we are ensuring that our collaboration is no longer periodic, but continuous, and no longer transactional, but truly transformative,” he added.

According to the @Heidrick & Struggles CEO & Board Monitor Report, 49% of Middle East leaders identify cybersecurity risk as a top challenge for 2026, the highest share globally and well above the worldwide average of 31%. Meanwhile, nearly half of organizations in the region are concerned about hack-and-leak operations, compared with a global average of 38%, according to Security Middle East Magazine. Philippe Vallée, Executive Vice President of Cybersecurity and Digital Identity at @thalesgroup, says the Middle East is experiencing strong business growth, alongside a push to close gaps in cybersecurity readiness. “Cybersecurity is becoming much more central to how companies think about their digital development, because the more connected and digital an organization becomes, the more important it is to build security and resilience into that transformation from the beginning.” Vallée also emphasizes information-sharing between organizations and national cybersecurity agencies as a way to improve preparedness. Sharing details about breaches, attack methods, and vulnerabilities can help other organizations identify emerging threats and strengthen their defenses. “Cybersecurity is a permanent race between the thickness of the wall and the power of the bullet. It has been the same story for the past 100 years, okay? Still the same. Now AI is just accelerating the pace; the rhythm of the race.” Read more: fastcompanyme.com/technology…

The innovations shaping an industry today can define what comes next. Fast Company Middle East’s Most Innovative Companies 2026 recognizes organizations turning meaningful innovation into measurable impact. Previous honorees include Binance, GMG, PepsiCo, Masdar City, and Chalhoub Group, each contributing to the region’s evolving business landscape. If your company has introduced an innovation that has made a meaningful difference over the past year, tomorrow, October 23, is the final day to put its story forward. Apply here: event.fastcompanyme.com/appl…

Dr Rory Melville, medical director of the Institute for Healthier Living Abu Dhabi, says, “This is about changing the foundations of healthcare to make prevention a priority. The ambition is being driven by the government, but the approach involves everyone across the healthcare system.” The emirate is investing billions in the future of medicine. The real test is whether it can turn that investment into more years of good health. Read more: fastcompanyme.com/impact/abu…

“It’s harder to recruit healthy people, young healthy people,” says Paul Downey, general manager of @M42Health’s Abu Dhabi Biobank. That gap matters in the pursuit of preventive medicine, where studying healthy populations could offer insights into the origins of illness and the factors that shape long-term health. “Scaling AI still remains very fragmented. It is the root of a lot of the problems,” said Dr. Dr. Mujtaba Ali-Khan, Chief Executive Officer of @BurjeelMediCity and Group Chief Clinical Innovation Officer at Burjeel Holdings Hospitals. “You can have the right systems in place to integrate the technology, but it will die without correct utilization.”

“Responsible self-care has an important role to play,” said Arda Arat, General Manager, Gulf Near East at Haleon. “Prevention works best when it becomes part of everyday life. The goal should be to create an environment where people are supported to make informed health decisions early.” For AI to scale, Rohan Sawhney, Partner in Life Sciences and Healthcare at @DeloitteME, says, data must be simplified and made accessible through the systems clinicians already use, rather than introducing additional platforms that complicate their work.

As populations age and chronic diseases become more prevalent, healthcare systems are beginning to rethink a model built largely around treating illness rather than preventing it. Through investments in genomics, AI, specialized clinics and regulatory frameworks, Abu Dhabi is laying the foundations for a healthcare system capable of identifying disease risks long before symptoms appear. But making that a reality requires more than tech. It demands a fundamental shift in how medicine is practiced, how hospitals operate and how patients engage with their own health. “We want to know which treatment is most appropriate for the individual patient in front of us,” said Dr. Mohammad Fityan, Group Chief Officer at @BurjeelHoldings. “AI can bring these enormous datasets together and can help generate more useful clinical predictions, and potentially avoid the loss of valuable time on an ineffective treatment.”

#InTheNews: Robert Downey Jr. has joined @specs as the honorary Chief Customer Experience Officer. “Trying is believing. Having tested practically every wearable tech that’s come to market in the last 20 years, and been largely unimpressed, I was absolutely sold on SPECS within 40 seconds,” said Downey Jr. “The applications are endless. Families can share experiences instead of hunching over devices, skills can be honed, big business can streamline development. In short, it delivers on the promise of AR glasses made by a certain techno optimist superhero I portrayed. Life imitates art-imitates life! I’ve never experienced the confident, warm and creatively inviting atmosphere that Evan has cultivated at SPECS anywhere else in the tech sector. Wait’ll you see what we create for you to enjoy.” Downey Jr. will work alongside the SPECS team to explore how augmented reality can improve the way people live and work, from everyday experiences in entertainment and education to specialized uses across medicine, engineering, and manufacturing. "We're incredibly excited to welcome Robert Downey Jr. to SPECS to help shape the future of augmented reality," said Evan Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc. "Robert has been imagining what this technology could become for nearly twenty years, and it's an honor to work with him to bring that vision to life.”

Middle Eastern ultra-high-net-worth families are prioritizing governance and succession planning as they prepare for business transitions, although many remain unprepared for a potential sale or transfer, according to the 2026 Family Barometer by Julius Baer and @EYnews. The report, the first collaboration between the two firms, surveyed more than 700 finance professionals. It found that more than four in five ultra-high-net-worth families globally own at least 50% of an operating company, yet only 2.3% are fully prepared for a sale or transfer, while 12% are largely prepared. “What we consistently see is that the families who navigate these transitions with confidence are those who have put governance in place early, agreeing how decisions will be made and involving successors well before any handover takes place,” said Jean Pierre Dib, Co-Head Middle East & Africa at @juliusbaer. Read more: fastcompanyme.com/news/famil…

The Retail World Awards – Middle East Edition, powered by Fast Company Middle East, celebrate the brands, leaders, and innovators making an impact across the retail industry. Nominations close on 30 October 2026. Put your achievements in the spotlight. Nominate now: awards.retailworldforum.com/… #RetailWorldAwards #RetailExcellence #Retail

As AI reduces the time and cost of routine execution, parts of the work a B2B intelligence provider does become easier for others to reproduce. That puts pressure on providers to demonstrate what their expertise contributes beyond the output. “Clients want a clearer connection between the work they buy and the commercial result,” says XDBS founder Kartik Anand. Meeting that demand means following the work past delivery. Accurate information is a starting point. Its usefulness depends on whether it helps a customer recognize an opportunity and decide how to act. When a campaign underperforms, the team needs to investigate the failure and use what it discovers. Producing more activity without understanding the problem simply repeats the expense. “I’d measure development through the responsibility someone can handle: whether they can identify a problem, explain their recommendation, and recognize when they need help,” @KTAnand says. Read more: fastcompanyme.com/technology…

“When a creator or a friend shares a meme, it signals ‘this person gets it.’ When a brand posts one, it signals ‘this brand is trying to get me.’ Gen Z doesn’t punish brands for being funny,” says Andrew Baturin, chief marketing officer of @tumodoglobal. He explains that Gen Z punishes brands for borrowing culture without adding anything. Younger audiences can also spot committee-made content, which often feels too polished and arrives too late. Memes cannot confer cultural fluency. They can only reveal whether a brand already has it. The best work adds a real point of view to a conversation; the rest is simply an ad waiting for the joke to end. Read more: fastcompanyme.com/impact/why…

Salma Mohamed,18, a university marketing student, says memes rarely translate seamlessly across cultures. Drawing on her experience with brands in Egypt, she explains: “Local brands are either using Egyptian-based memes, which are hard to translate into other neighboring countries. Some use western memes that have spread and risk not resonating with Arab audiences altogether.” Vlada Lomova, CEO of PRHub.ae, says, “Humor in Egypt, the Gulf, the Levant and North Africa runs on different dialects, references and comedic traditions, so a joke that lands in Cairo can fall flat in Riyadh. Sensitivities around religion, family and politics also narrow the margin for error.”