The second edition of the BilAraby Annual Gathering 2026, organised by Qatar Foundation (QF)’s BilAraby initiative under the theme With Our Ideas, We Build, started Saturday at Multaqa in Education City.
The gathering brings together senior dignitaries, thinkers, creators, and experts from various sectors, to discuss ways of harnessing knowledge and creativity to address issues facing society.
Young people in Qatar can turn innovative ideas into prototypes using local facilities, but need greater awareness of available resources, a participant at the Bil’Arabi Forum told Gulf Times.
Mohammed al-Qassabi, head of the Qatar Scientific Lab’s Robotics and AI Department, said the lab was participating with the Ministry of Sports and Youth at the forum’s second edition to demonstrate how innovation moves from concept to prototype.
He highlighted facilities including 3D printers, CNC (computer numerical control) machines and other equipment, explaining that they were used “to help any youth with an innovative idea to turn that idea into a real prototype”.
“We have many different resources here in Qatar that we are not aware of,” he said. “I think such events are really important, especially for youth.”
Al-Qassabi added that greater awareness could help people make use of these resources and give back to the community.
For Qatari traveller and adventurer Khalid al-Jaber, the forum offered a platform to share a different route from ambition to achievement: turning a motorcycle hobby into a livelihood.
“I have been to 95 countries, most of them on a motorcycle,” he told *Gulf Times.
He said he is sharing his own career journey, including “why I left my job, why I started converting my hobby into a living or into a business”.
Al-Jaber’s hope is to encourage others to “follow their path and dream”, not necessarily enter his field.
Describing the forum as “a great hub” for the Arab world, he said that it gave people with stories to tell an audience.
“Maybe I have a great story, but nobody can hear it,” al-Jaber said.
He recalled initially questioning what he could contribute when invited to speak at the forum alongside professors and teachers: “I’m just a motorcyclist, I’m an adventurer. What would I give?”
“I think I had a story that was equivalent to their successful stories,” he said.
A media professional and author of the English-language book *My Road to Silk, al-Jaber travelled more than 21,000km along the Silk Road from London to Beijing across 19 countries.
He later became the first Arab to complete the “Pole to Pole” journey by motorcycle, covering more than 40,000km across 15 countries on a continuous route from Alaska to South America’s southernmost point.
He documents his long-distance motorcycle travels through photography and film, drawing lessons about overcoming fear, discipline, resilience and starting over.
