From AI to Web3: Dubai’s model for a future economy

I recently spent a week in Dubai, and it felt like observing a city engineering its future in real time. The striking thing was not the scale, but the precision. Dubai treats innovation as core infrastructure, not embellishment, and you see it in everything from its AI blueprint to its regulatory design and economic planning.

For this episode of Lens on Singapore, I spoke to two people shaping that strategy from different vantage points: Dr Marwan Al Zarouni from the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, and Mohammad Alblooshi from the DIFC Innovation Hub. Together, they trace how policy, governance and talent density are being engineered into Dubai’s next phase of growth.

Why listen

• How Dubai plans to generate AED 100 billion a year from tech: Dr Marwan explains the D33 agenda and the sectoral bets Dubai believes will turn emerging tech into a core GDP contributor, not a side experiment.

• What ethical, secure AI governance looks like at scale: From AI ethics frameworks to the Dubai Cyber Index, you hear how public trust and cybersecurity underpin every deployment.

• How DIFC became a magnet for global fintech and AI founders: Mohammad breaks down the legal, regulatory and economic design choices that turned DIFC into the region’s most dense innovation hub.

• Where Dubai and Singapore may converge on tokenisation: With DFSA, VARA and Project Guardian evolving in parallel, both speakers outline the genuine points of alignment between our financial centres.

Dubai’s rise is not accidental. It is the product of deliberate architecture, relentless iteration and a willingness to move at a pace most cities would find uncomfortable. For Singapore, the question is not whether to keep up, but how to partner, learn and sharpen our own precision.

This episode is a lens into what disciplined innovation can look like when the whole system is aligned. Listen now.

For more episodes, go to bt.sg/podcasts and if you have feedback or an episode idea, please get in touch at btpodcasts@sph.com.sg.

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Written and presented by: Claressa Monteiro (claremb@sph.com.sg)

With Dr Marwan Al Zarouni, CEO of Artificial Intelligence at the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, and Mohammad Alblooshi, CEO of DIFC Innovation Hub

SEE ALSO

If AI leads the strategy, who leads the people?

Post-production: Claressa Monteiro and Emily Liu

Coordinating producer: Emily Liu

A podcast by BT Podcasts, The Business Times, SPH Media

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