Prof. Mérouane Debbah is a researcher, educator and technology entrepreneur. He has founded several public and industrial research centers, start-ups and held executive positions in ICT companies. He is professor at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and founding senior director of the Khalifa University Research Institute for Digital Future. His research has been lying at the interface of fundamental mathematics, algorithms, statistics, information and communication sciences with a special focus on random matrix theory and learning algorithms. In the AI field, he is known for his work on large language models, distributed AI systems for networks and semantic communications. In the communication field, he has been at the heart of the development of small cells (4G), massive MIMO (5G) and large intelligent surfaces (6G) technologies. He received more than 50 IEEE best-paper awards and 100 patents for his contributions to both fields. According to research.com, he is ranked as the best scientist in France in the field of electronics and electrical engineering] and was named in 2025 as one of the “50 Leaders at the Forefront of an AI-Driven Future in the Middle East” and “Arab’s Most Influential Leaders in Tech”.