DISAI AI programme picks ten DeepTech startups
Qualcomm, Aramco, RDIA and HUMAIN back second cohort of AI innovators
#SaudiArabia #DeepTech – US semiconductor giant Qualcomm, Saudi Arabia’s national energy company Aramco, the Saudi Arabia Research, Development and Innovation Authority (RDIA), and Saudi Arabia’s national AI champion HUMAIN have announced the ten startups selected for Design in Saudi Arabia with AI, or DISAI 2026. The startup programme, which attracted more than 124 applications, supports deep-tech startups from concept through to commercialisation, combining technical mentorship, IP strategy, access to advanced AI platforms and access to the latest AI infrastructure.
SO WHAT? – DISAI is quietly becoming one of the most substantive deep-tech accelerators in the region. The combination of Qualcomm’s semiconductor and IP expertise, Aramco’s industrial scale, RDIA’s strategic backing and HUMAIN’s AI infrastructure gives selected startups access to a rare set of resources. Seven of the ten selected startups are Saudi-born, and their focus areas, from Arabic-first document intelligence to industrial edge AI and multi-disease medical diagnostics, reflect exactly the kind of locally relevant, globally competitive innovation Saudi Arabia’s has strived to encourage.
KEY POINTS:
Qualcomm, Aramco (via its Saudi Accelerated Innovation Lab aramcoSAIL), the Saudi Arabia Research, Development and Innovation Authority (RDIA), and HUMAIN have announced the ten startups selected for the 2026 edition of the Design in Saudi Arabia with AI programme (DISAI 2026).
The ten startups were selected from more than 124 applications, nearly double the number of its inaugural 2025 cohort. The programme runs from April through November 2026, culminating in a finale event where startups will showcase product prototypes and services to investors and industry partners.
Seven of the ten selected startups are Saudi-founded, spanning industrial AI, healthcare diagnostics, circular economy automation, smart mobility, edge computing and Arabic-language document intelligence. The cohort reflects the breadth of Saudi Arabia’s emerging deep-tech ecosystem across both industrial and civic applications.
HUMAIN joins the programme as a new partner for 2026, giving startups access to national AI infrastructure including inference cloud credits, hosting of larger AI models, AI-enabled PCs with on-device acceleration and technical support.
The ten selected startups for DISAI’s second cohort are:
Circula (Saudi Arabia) - offers an AI-powered circular-economy platform automating industrial waste recovery and compliance.
Crosscall (France) - provides rugged AIoT trackers for 450 MHz industrial and worker-safety networks.
Deqa AI (Saudi Arabia) - offers an AI-powered enterprise automation and decision-support platform for operational efficiency.
Dexabot (Canada) - specialises in industrial security and surveillance using drones and drone fleets.
Digital Petroleum (Saudi Arabia) - created a single edge-AI industrial sensor to replace multiple legacy sensors and simplify Industry 4.0 digitization.
Electronic Photonics (Saudi Arabia) - offers a LiDAR-based edge-AI traffic digital twin for smart intersections and mobility analytics.
Finix Systems (Saudi Arabia) - provides a modular industrial IoT edge controller to retrofit legacy equipment for smart monitoring.
Nommas.ai (Saudi Arabia) - offers an AI “factory brain” enabling quality inspection, predictive maintenance and safety at the edge.
SDM (Saudi Arabia) - offers a multi-disease AI diagnostic platform using medical imaging for early detection.
Tawkeed (Saudi Arabia) - offers an on-prem, Arabic-first AI document intelligence platform compliant with Saudi data-sovereignty rules.
Qualcomm has expanded the programme’s technical platforms for 2026, enabling startups to prototype on Arduino UNO Q, the newly announced Arduino VENTUNO JQ, and Qualcomm AI accelerators including the AIC200 and industrial AI gateway platforms, giving participants access to hardware that bridges edge AI development and industrial deployment.
IP strategy is a core programme pillar, with Qualcomm providing intellectual property mentorship and patenting training throughout. In parallel, Qualcomm has launched a free online Arabic-language IP learning programme at L2prosaudiarabia.com, designed to equip startups, SMEs and researchers with skills to protect and commercialise their innovations.
Aramco views DISAI as a foundation for a larger open innovation programme, with plans to scale beyond the current cohort model to invite global startups and innovators to engage directly with Aramco’s industrial challenges, focusing on industrial AI, IoT and advanced communications.
The programme aligns directly with Saudi Arabia’s designation of 2026 as the Year of AI, and with Vision 2030 objectives to build a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
Source: Qualcomm
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