Most Promising Startups
Showing the single result
Paul Potgieter
Director – Technology and Platforms
NEOM
Paul Potgieter is shaping how digital systems and intelligent infrastructure accelerate NEOM’s ambition to build a cognitive, adaptive city. His focus is on embedding scalable digital platforms that power new economic models and drive differentiated value in an era of AI-native urban development.
Awad Ahmed Ali El-Sidiq
Head of Artificial Intelligent & Analytics
Adnoc Distribution
Awad Ahmed Ali El-Sidiq is driving the transformation of energy infrastructure through AI-powered analytics at ADNOC Distribution. With over 15 years of experience across enterprise data systems and large-scale AI implementations, he has pioneered advanced machine learning use cases in the oil and gas sector that deliver tangible business outcomes. His work enables data to operate as an intelligent asset—powering faster, more adaptive decision-making across the organization. Recognized globally for his leadership in enterprise AI and database architecture, he continues to push the boundaries of what AI can achieve in one of the world’s most vital industries.
Dr. Dirk Jungnickel
SVP of Enterprise & Analytics & Intelligence
Emirates
Dr. Dirk Jungnickel leads Enterprise Data & Analytics at Emirates Group, overseeing the organization’s AI, data science, and business intelligence capabilities.
With a background in theoretical physics and over two decades in senior roles across industries, he brings a systems-level perspective to the design and governance of enterprise AI.
His work focuses on scaling data-driven decision-making while ensuring alignment, transparency, and operational impact.
Srimanth Rudraraju
Group Director of Engineering
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG)
Srimanth is a senior technology leader and currently serves as the Director of Engineering for Data & Analytics at the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).
With a distinguished career across leading financial institutions including HSBC, JP Morgan, and Lloyds Banking Group, he brings deep expertise in data strategy, large-scale cloud transformation, and building high-performing engineering organisations.
Srimanth is known for driving innovation in complex, regulated environments and is passionate about creating inclusive, future-ready data platforms that deliver real business impact.
Geoffrey Alphonso
Chief Executive Officer
Alef Education
Geoffrey Alphonso is the CEO of Alef Education and a transformational leader in the EdTech sector.
With over 20 years of global experience across North America, Australia, and the Middle East, he has led Alef’s growth into an AI-powered education platform reaching hundreds of thousands of students across multiple countries.
Geoffrey is passionate about using emerging technologies to shape the future of learning and sits on advisory boards focused on expanding digital access in underserved communities. He holds an MBA from London Business School.
Jithin George
Chief Technology Officer
Lyzr
Jithin George designs and builds agentic AI systems that operate with autonomy, context awareness, and real-time decision-making capabilities.
His work focuses on creating AI agents that can reason, act, and adapt across complex environments—bridging the gap between intent and execution in enterprise and developer workflows.
Munjal Shah
Co-founder and CEO
Hippocratic AI
Munjal Shah is the co-founder and CEO of Hippocratic AI, a company building the first safety-focused large language model for healthcare.
A serial entrepreneur with a track record in AI and machine learning, he has founded and led multiple startups at the intersection of technology and healthcare, with previous ventures acquired by Google and Alibaba.
Marek Kowalkiewicz
Professor and Chair in Digital Economy
QUT Business School
Marek Kowalkiewicz is Professor and Chair in Digital Economy at QUT Business School and a leading voice on the intersection of AI, business, and society.
Recognized by Thinkers360 as one of the Top 100 Global AI Thought Leaders, he is the author of The Economy of Algorithms: AI and the Rise of the Digital Minions, winner of the 2024 Australian Business Book Award in Technology.
Marek previously led innovation teams in Silicon Valley, established SAP’s Machine Learning Lab in Singapore, and held research appointments at Microsoft Research Asia.
His current work focuses on how algorithmic systems shape decision-making, redefine value creation, and challenge traditional notions of agency in business leadership.
Dr. Fatma Tarlaci
Chief AI Officer
SOAR AI
Dr. Fatma Tarlaci is an engineering leader with a decade of expertise in AI. Formerly, she served as CTO and VP of Engineering at startups, where she led the development and deployment of robust AI solutions and led high-impact engineering teams.
As a technical advisor, she helps startups navigate AI adoption and productization, while also training the next generation of AI engineers and data scientists as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Computer Science at UT Austin.
She recently stepped into the role of Chief AI Officer at SOAR AI, where she combines strategic leadership with hands-on development and helps guide the technical direction of their AI initiatives.
Munther Dahleh
Founding director of the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society & Professor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Munther A. Dahleh is the William A. Coolidge Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and the founding director of the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS).
His research explores decision-making under uncertainty, networked systems, and the economics of data, drawing on fields from control theory to distributed learning.
He leads cross-disciplinary efforts at MIT to understand how data and algorithms shape complex systems, from financial and power networks to social and neural systems.
Anirudh Narayan
Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer
Lyzr
Anirudh Narayan focuses on accelerating the adoption of agentic AI by bridging technical innovation with real-world application.
With a background in growth strategy and data-driven product development, he works at the intersection of AI deployment and business transformation, enabling organizations to unlock new forms of scale and autonomy through intelligent agents.
Dylan Hadfield-Menell
Assistant Professor
MIT Computer Science & AI Lab
Dylan Hadfield-Menell is a leading researcher in AI alignment and directs the Algorithmic Alignment Group at MIT CSAIL. His work focuses on ensuring that agentic AI systems behave in ways that reflect human goals, values, and oversight, particularly in multi-agent and human-AI contexts.
As a Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Fellow, he is advancing methods to support the safe, beneficial, and trustworthy deployment of AI in the real world.
Tim Kraska
Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Tim Kraska is an Associate Professor at MIT CSAIL and founding co-director of the Data System and AI Lab (DSAIL). His research explores how machine learning can transform the foundations of data systems—improving performance, adaptability, and user interaction.
From rethinking core components with learned models to building intelligent interfaces for data science, his work enables more autonomous, accessible, and trustworthy AI systems at scale.