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Senior government officials, academics, and innovation leaders have explored how Public Innovation Labs (PILs) can help governments improve service delivery, foster citizen engagement, and build agile institutions.Eman al-Kuwari, director of Digital Innovation at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), underscored how MCIT is reimagining the role of government in the digital age, citing the TASMU Innovation Lab.“Technology is the means, not the end; we created the Innovation Lab to offer a safe environment for experimentation. It’s a space where we can test emerging technologies, validate ideas, and include the wider ecosystem.“That includes startups, academia, and private sector partners. We’re reimagining how government works — and that starts with giving teams the confidence to try,” al-Kuwari pointed out during the inaugural ‘Ibtechar Majlis’, a new dialogue series launched earlier by Qatari innovation firm Ibtechar.She added that innovation must be embedded in the culture of public institutions: “It’s not just about infrastructure or policy — it’s about building a mindset. We want government teams to be able to experiment, to test, and to learn. That’s how we bring real value to public services.”Nejoud M al-Jehani, executive director of Strategy & Programmes at the Qatar Research, Development and Innovation (QRDI) Council, offered a strategic framing of innovation, distinguishing between internal reform and ecosystem-wide transformation.“We differentiate between government innovation and public innovation. Government innovation is about improving internal processes — policies, service delivery, operations. Public innovation is broader. It’s about creating value for society by mobilising the entire ecosystem: government entities, corporates, startups, and universities,” al-Jehani explained.Emphasising the dual role of government in this landscape, she continued: “As an adopter, government defines challenges and becomes the first customer. That builds market confidence. As an enabler, it sets standards, opens partnerships, and creates the conditions for innovation to thrive across sectors.”Hissa al-Tamimi, director of Governmental Innovation at the Civil Service and Government Development Bureau (CGB), spoke about the launch of Qatar’s first government accelerator and its role in bridging national priorities with operational realities.She said, “We’re rethinking how services are designed and how operations are managed. The accelerator helps us connect national projects with the day-to-day work of government entities.”Al-Tamimi also addressed the cultural challenge of embedding innovation in public institutions, saying, “If innovation were just about systems, adaptation would be easy. But when you’re dealing with people, that’s where the challenge lies. Innovation pushes us beyond our comfort zones. It’s not a privilege — it’s a way of living. That’s the only way we can advance.”Dr Georgios Dimitropoulos, professor and associate dean for Research at Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s College of Law, highlighted the importance of collaboration between academia and government: “Academia brings ideas and evidence. The government brings implementability. The two sides need each other.”Citing historical examples to illustrate the power of this partnership, Dimitropoulos said: “Think of the Manhattan Project, the COVID vaccines, and the Internet. These were all born from collaboration between government and academia. Qatar’s AI strategy is a local example. It was developed with HBKU’s Qatar Computing Research Institute, and it positioned the country as an early adopter.”Ibtechar co-founder and CEO Nayef al-Ibrahim, who moderated the discussion, framed the Majlis as a culturally rooted space for dialogue and co-creation, adding that it is “an integral part of Qatari culture.”“Public Innovation Labs continue that spirit. They offer governments safe spaces to test ideas, co-create with citizens, and deliver agile services. In a small state, a model that combines centralised coordination with decentralised experimentation brings significant value. It allows for flexibility, inclusion, and scale—all while maintaining coherence,” he added.

HE the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohammed bin Ali bin Mohamed al-Mannai attended the “AI and XR Sandbox Demo Open Day”, organised by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), through the Tasmu Innovation Lab.The event brought together government entities, startups, and partners from across the communication and information technology sector to showcase four proof-of-concept solutions, designed to address real-world challenges in healthcare, compliance, procurement, and smart-city mobility.The Sandbox Open Demo Day provided a safe and controlled environment for piloting, developing, and evaluating emerging technologies.The initiative aims to accelerate digital innovation while upholding the highest standards of safety and security.This approach aligns with the mission of the ministry to enable a resilient digital transformation and contributes directly to the Digital Agenda 2030 and Qatar National Vision 2030.As part of the initiative, participants from government entities and startups were given access to Vertex, Google Cloud’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform, along with mentorship and support from Deloitte AI Institute experts and Google specialists.The Extended Reality Sandbox provided participants with advanced augmented and virtual reality tools, a unified development portal, and intensive hands-on training from Deloitte Digital experts.This blend of theoretical and practical training enabled participants to transform their innovative concepts into viable 3D proof-of-concept solutions.The event showcased four advanced pilot proof-of-concept solutions, three AI-based solutions and one extended reality solution.The first was a secured X-ray image sharing tool, developed by participants from the Ministry of Public Health in collaboration with Hamad Medical Corporation and Sinaholz, which utilises AI to hide patient-identifying data from medical images, enabling safe data sharing among authorised entities while preserving privacy.The second was an electronic policy compliance analyser, developed by a team from the Ministry of Finance that automatically reviews policy and regulatory documents, comparing them against established standards to detect potential non-compliance and streamline governance processes.The third was a smart request-for-proposal generator that automates the creation of procurement requests, enhancing consistency, accelerating workflows, and reducing processing time, the proof-of-concept is the product of a collective effort from the MCIT, the Ministry of Culture, the General Authority of Customs, Communications Regulatory Authority, and RF{X}AI.The fourth, developed within the Extended Reality Sandbox, was an innovative parking design solution by Sinaholz aimed at reducing construction costs and risks, optimising space utilisation, and enhancing user experience through advanced digital tools for management and pre-booking.Commenting on the event, Reem al-Mansoori, the assistant undersecretary for Digital Industry Affairs at the MCIT, stated: “The launch of the first cohort of proof-of-concept solutions under the Artificial Intelligence and Extended Reality Sandbox Initiative marks a significant step forward in advancing Qatar’s digital innovation ecosystem.”"Participating teams successfully transformed their ideas into practical proof-of-concept solutions, demonstrating the vast potential of emerging technologies in addressing real-world challenges,” she said. “The sandboxes provide a secure environment to pilot and refine digital solutions before large-scale deployment, reducing risks and improving implementation quality.”"Furthermore, they serve as a platform to build bridges of collaboration between government entities, innovators, startups, and global partners,” al-Mansoori added. “This inaugural experience has established a pioneering model for collaboration, setting the foundation for a new phase of digital innovation that enhances service delivery, drives economic diversification, and accelerates the implementation of the Digital Agenda 2030.”Throughout this initiative, the MCIT’s Tasmu Innovation Lab has worked on bringing global expertise into Qatar’s digital innovation ecosystem by engaging international technology experts to collaborate with local talents.The Sandbox initiative stands out as a pioneering platform through which the ministry is driving national digital transformation, in line with the pillars of the Digital Agenda 2030, by providing a clear and responsible pathway for piloting, scaling, and adopting emerging technologies, a statement added.