SHAPE THE FUTURE OF THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Dr. Anas Bataw

Dr. Bataw plays a vital role driving AEC innovations and digital transformation by contributing to the development and delivery of National standards, guidelines, and ISO in GCC, Singapore and UK. As well as leading initiatives and programs on organizational level with strong leadership abilities and hands-on technical expertise in Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), Design for Manufacture & Assembly (DfMA), Building Information Modelling/ Management (BIM) and Digital Twinning.

Established extensive capabilities developing and leading large-scale AEC innovations programs from R&D, identification, building cases, prototyping, and setting up teams to developing and executing methodologies, processes, procedures and building ecosystems.

Dr. Anas Bataw is the Director of the Centre of Excellence in Smart Construction (CESC). In this role, he has the overall responsibility to advancing industry-led innovations in the built environment to revolutionise the way we develop, manage, and operate smarter cities.

Aref Boualwan

A proven track record as a professional with a business vision, hard-core technical skills and the ability to motivate/bring people together. A career of building business through innovation & technology.

Occupied Executive & Senior Managerial positions in Digital Transformation, MIS, & Software Development; adding great value to the organization by realizing the full power of technology to drive the business.

Develops strategic partnerships with Startups that build disruptive technologies. Leverages alliances to source Innovation, add competitive advantage to the business & create new business lines \ opportunities. Resides on the Board of Directors of technology Startups.

Also holds “Strategy Officer” position at the “World Economic Forum” involved in decision-making by shaping Forum initiatives, workshops, research, and projects as well as implementing innovative solutions to support the industry’s transformation.

Recognized commentator and speaker at events organized by the United Nations, EU Arab Summit, BuiltWorlds Summit, The Big 5, The Solar Show, ArabNet Digital Summit, Construction Tech. Forum, etc.

Opinion cited in Reuters, Business Green, Yahoo Finance, Forbes Middle East, MEED, MTV,  Euro2Day, BusinessNews, Business Insider, Markets Insider, Middle East Construction, etc.

Cinar Kurra

Cinar obtained his BASc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Evansville, as well as his MSc in Electrical Engineering and Telecommunication Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. His career began as a System Integration Engineer at Motorola, before advancing to become a Technical Release Manager for Motorola’s iDEN Group (Push to Talk over GSM network) until 2004. As a serial entrepreneur, he has founded several companies including KES Engineering based in Chicago (1997), dBKES Engineering Services (2000) and DEK Technology (2010) based in Istanbul, MGT Electronics based in Chicago (2007), and HAWK Technology based in Abu Dhabi (2011). Cinar currently leads the Catalyst, a Masdar-BP initiative, which is the first start-up accelerator focused on sustainability in the region.

Imad Itani

Imad Itani is the Innovation manager for ALEC, one of the leading construction firms in the Gulf region. Imad is an experienced construction professional having background in delivering high profile projects including airports, theme parks, hotels and high-rise towers. He is known for utilizing experience, proactive project management skills and different innovation tools to transform practices in the construction industry.

Imad is highly motivated with a genuine eagerness to learn and develop thus keeping pace of new procedures, strategies, and technologies to stay abreast of developments across different fields.

Passionate about people and utilizing interpersonal skills to increase collaboration between all parties hence adding value across the whole construction ecosystem. Imad has also completed multiple certifications including PMP, EMBA from INSEAD in addition to many other certifications and trainings including innovation.

Imad has been leading the innovation drive across ALEC since early 2017; working with many staff across the organization and promoting the innovation culture. Since inception, many new initiatives were driven from simple ideas into successful projects that generates value to the organization. Continuous improvement is a prime focus and have been utilizing technologies including Data, Analytics, Technology & automation in addition to 3D printing, where it adds value, in increasing efficiency and process improvements. Imad has been featured in many articles explaining construction innovation and have also presented in multiple forums.

Mohamad Sabouneh

Mohamad has digital and tech startups experience from the investor, founder, and accelerator sides. His experience ranges from initial concept validation, business model design, fundraising, financial modeling, and strategy.

Additionally, Mohamad advises several digital startups in the region independently and as part of regional startup accelerators. Mohamad also has 3 years of experience in project and construction management in the GCC and North Africa.

Mohamad holds a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from the Lebanese University and an MBA from the American University of Beirut (AUB).

Natalia Sycheva

A business management expert, entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist, Natalia Sycheva is synonymously known for her innovative take on business management solutions, and her impeccable track record in conceptualizing products and services for public sector and up and coming startups. In 2019 she received Achieving Women Award recognizing her efforts in building Entrepreneurship ecosystem in Dubai.

A Fulbright Fellow, Natalia is an academic at heart and holds Master’s degrees in International Finance from Brandeis International Business School and History from Tomsk State University. She then spent more than a decade conducting research and teaching local, national and multinational organizations the importance of policy advocacy and decision making in multilateral trade agreements. Behavioral Science, Future of Work, Human and Machine Interaction are areas of growing interest for Natalia as she prepares for her PhD.