Technology News and insights in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa
Iraq has launched its first AI-powered museum in Baghdad, showcasing the Ottoman era through restored photographs, archival documents and AI-generated visuals. The initiative blends heritage preservation with digital innovation, offering immersive historical experiences and enhanced research access.
ADB has approved $950,000 in technical assistance to support AI adoption in healthcare across Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia. The initiative will assess clinical, management and generative AI applications while developing governance roadmaps to strengthen digital health systems and improve service delivery.
UN Bahrain convened high-level consultations to develop a 2026–2029 partnership strategy under the UNSDCF framework. The initiative strengthens a triangular UN–Government–Private Sector model focused on SDG-aligned investment across manufacturing, digital innovation, clean energy, education and inclusion.
Pakistan and Algeria are exploring deeper investment cooperation in energy, mining and digital sectors, with a planned MoU between SIFC and Algeria’s investment agency. Talks also covered smart agriculture and digital governance, supporting Pakistan’s push for long-term foreign investment.
Algeria has opened registration for Global Africa Tech 2026, a continental telecom and technology summit set for late March. The event will gather regional and international stakeholders to discuss digital transformation, connectivity and innovation across Africa.
Algeria has connected three million households to fibre broadband as part of its nationwide FTTH rollout. The milestone supports digital inclusion, improved service quality and economic growth, aligning with the country’s strategy to become one of Africa’s most digitally advanced nations.
e&’s stake in Vodafone has risen to 17.005% due to Vodafone’s share buyback programme, while its total holdings remain at 3.94 billion shares. The move strengthens e&’s global exposure strategy, following its initial $4.4bn investment in 2022.
Pakistan has finalised its Mobile and Electronic Devices Manufacturing Policy 2026–33 ahead of the March 10 5G spectrum auction. The plan includes export incentives, lower duties on parts and higher duties on imports to boost local smartphone production and support the transition to 5G-ready devices.
Suse has acquired Ohio-based Losant to expand its Edge portfolio into full-stack Industrial IoT capabilities. The deal strengthens Suse’s Tiny Edge strategy, integrating AI, device orchestration and open process automation to enable real-time industrial insights and hybrid AI execution at scale.
Abu Dhabi, through G42 and Cerebras, will deploy an 8 exaflop AI supercomputer in India under the India AI Mission. Hosted domestically with full data sovereignty, the system will expand national AI compute capacity, support large-scale model training and democratise access for research, startups and government.