That’s a wrap on LEAP 2026!
A week of launches, partnerships, conversations and a lot of time with our community.
The resounding message is clear: the next chapter of AI will not be written in Silicon Valley alone. Our team met developers, founders, and organizations exploring how AI can be built and deployed across the region and beyond.
Here are a few highlights:
Deploying enterprise AI for national telecom operator:
aixplain kicked off LEAP by celebrating a partnership with Syriatel that brought aixplain’s AI infrastructure to Syria and opened a new chapter for AI in globally regulated enterprise.
As our Founder and CEO, Dr.Hassan Sawaf said: “What started in Palo Alto as an idea during the visit H.E Abdulsalam Haykal with the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is now a part Syria’s renewal that will be authored by its citizens, powered by the region, and owned by its people.”
Read the full coverage from Damascus Radio here
Meet Koder
We also officially introduced Koder, a cost-effective and language-inclusive local coding agent built for agentic coding while keeping your code, context and inference on your machine.
As a special gift to our supporters enjoy a few credits to try Koder on us:
Explore Koder: www.koder.aixplain.com
Syria’s debut on the world tech scene
aixplain was honored to join the inaugural presence of the Syrian tech community at the Syrian Pavilion following an invitation from Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and H.E Minister Abdulsalam Haykal.
On stage at LEAP
Our team also joined conversations across LEAP on technology, entrepreneurship, digital trust and the role technology companies increasingly play in economies and international relations.
Dr. Mona Hamdy, our chief ethics advisor joined the panel “Tech Diplomacy: When Startups Become Foreign Policy Tools,” where she spoke about the role capital plays in deciding which technologies grow and, in turn, who gets to shape our societies.
“Not every successful and profitable investment necessarily benefits society. The more important question is: who are we giving the power to shape our future? Technology is not neutral and it does not develop in isolation. Investors and funders play a role in determining which ideas grow and influence our societies.”
Dr. Hassan Sawaf joined two panels: “Digital Trust as National Security”, discussing digital trust, cybersecurity and digital infrastructure, and “Resilience as Infrastructure: How Syrian Founders Built What Didn’t Exist,” exploring the experience of Syrian entrepreneurs and the role resilience plays in building.
When asked what Syrian talent needs today, Dr. Hassan’s answer was as simple as it is timeless: the talent is already there. What needs to catch up is education and the working environment. That’s true everywhere.
For Syria, that also creates an opportunity to build from where the world is today, backed by the ability of Syrians to learn, adapt and build.
Thank you to everyone who came by the pavilion, joined our panels, met the team or followed along.
That’s LEAP 2026 for aixplain. See you at the next one.