Putting a Floor Under the AI Divide in the South Mediterranean

​Join EuroMedAI network members and leading researchers and experts from across the region—and beyond—for a focused side event held alongside the UNGA80 high-level informal meeting launching the Global Dialogue on AI Governance (New York, 2025). We will share a concise, evidence-based snapshot of AI capacity in the South Mediterranean, introduce the network’s mission and pillars, and open the floor for a practical, multi-stakeholder dialogue on how to strengthen capabilities, address gaps, and narrow the AI divide across the region.

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​Objectives

• ​Introduce EuroMedAI — its purpose, work pillars, and how members collaborate.

• ​Present a snapshot of AI capacity in the South Mediterranean aligned with UN A/79/966.

• ​Create an interactive platform and dialogue with contributions from diverse panelists (researchers, civil society, industry, public sector) and active participation from attendees.

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​Participants 

• ​Researchers

• ​Civil society

• ​Industry experts

• ​Policy makers

• ​Media

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​Agenda

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​Keynote: AI Capacity in the South Mediterranean: snapshot

• ​Alejandro Tlaie Boria, PhD Talos Senior Fellow, SaferAI Member, EuroMedAI

• ​Mohamed ALOUANE, Chair, EuroMedAI, AI Policy Researcher

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​Panel I: AI Governance, Safety, and Rights in the Mediterranean

​Moderator: Ermelinda Kanushi

• ​From Skills to Systems: Building AI Capacity for Sustainable Smart Cities in the South Mediterranean

• ​Asmae Ben Bahid AI & Innovation Expert, / CEO of Just Bim It

• ​Orienting to Transformative AI in academia: Pipeline-building for national security

• ​PARV MAHAJAN AI safety researcher at the Georgia Tech Research Institute

• ​A Mediterranean Assessment of Algorithmic Colonialism

• ​Cristiano Luchini Independent Researcher in AI Safety & Systems Architect

• ​Embedding Human Rights in AI Governance: Lessons from Youth Policy Frameworks

• ​Davide Capecchi, PhD Candidate Senior Advisor

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​Panel II: AI Capacity in the South Mediterranean

​Moderator: Mohamed ALOUANE

• ​Bridging the Mediterranean AI Divide: Infrastructure, Innovation, and Sustainability

• ​Franco Spicciariello, Director Public Policy, Mediterranean Europe, Amazon Web Services

• ​Resilience and sovereignty of public sector AI technologies: contexts of Mediterranean, EU-MENA

• ​Yonah Welker Visiting lecturer, Evaluator, Rapporteur, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology EU Commission projects, Prev. Tech Envoy, Ministry of AI

• ​From Ambition to Action: Morocco's AI Readiness and the Path to Scaling a National Ecosystem

• ​Sara El-Ateif, PhD, Assistant Professor of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence at ENSIASD

• ​Building AI from the Ground Up: Language Data and Minimum Capacity for the Global South

• ​Sa’ad Nasir Bashir, Co-founder, Localizehau (African Language AI & Localization)