On this episode of The Feedback Loop, our host Mona Hamdy sits down with Hattan Ahmed of the KAUST Entrepreneurship Center for a riveting conversation about the deep tech startup ecosystem in Saudi Arabia, the digital transformation landscape of the kingdom and conscious investing in the MENA region. The region has recently seen a range of developments in finance, government strategy, project planning, and lawmaking that suggest that deep tech will play an influential role in the development and modernization of the government, commercial, and financial sectors across the Gulf in the coming years. Hattan delves deep into the role deep tech has in propelling these developments and shares his insights on the future of the innovation economy.

Hattan Ahmed is an Entrepreneurship Collaboration Manager at KAUST Entrepreneurship Center. Hattan has a diverse background in industry, startups and academia and as a start-up co-founder, he brings a wealth of successful entrepreneurial background to his role, having navigated early stage growth to acquisition in the kingdom prior to joining KAUST. He also is the recipient of numerous entrepreneurial awards on both a national and international scale.

0:00 Introduction
1:30 What is KAUST?
4:27 Destination Deep Tech
10:25 The Saudi Space
16:09 The Arabic Language Barrier
20:11 Sustainable Investment
26:05 The Future of Blockchain in MENA
28:35 What is unique about Saudi Arabia?

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Mona Hamdy, Chief Strategy Officer, Sino Global Capital
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Hattan Ahmed, Head of KAUST Entrepreneurship Center
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