DUBAI, 22nd August, 2026 (WAM) -- The Jumaa Al Majid Centre for Culture and Heritage in Dubai and the Arab Organisation for Administrative Development, affiliated with the League of Arab States, organised a virtual scientific session exploring the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation in preserving heritage, advancing digitisation methods, classifying Arabic manuscripts, and transforming heritage assets into sustainable sources of knowledge, innovation, and cultural and economic value.
Held yesterday under the theme “From Memory to the Future: AI and Digital Transformation in the Service of Heritage,” the session featured Dr. Mohammed Khalif, Consultant for Innovation, Digital Transformation and AI Integration, and Abdel Azim Saqr, a researcher at the Institute of Arabic Manuscripts.
Dr. Khalif presented a strategic vision for moving beyond the digitisation and preservation of heritage towards building a smart digital ecosystem that enhances its vitality, accessibility and sustainability. He highlighted the potential of AI, digital platforms and immersive technologies to develop new experiences for learning and exploration.
He stressed the importance of partnerships among cultural institutions, universities, technology companies, startups and the creative industries, alongside adopting the concept of “heritage as a platform” to develop innovative services and solutions.
Saqr, for his part, presented an experience in using AI to classify and digitise Arabic manuscripts. He discussed the “Al-Shanti System”, a cognitive agent for manuscript classification that uses computer vision technologies and cognitive indicators to analyse manuscript characteristics.
He emphasised that the future of manuscript digitisation is moving towards intelligent systems that go beyond text extraction to understanding, classifying and analysing manuscripts.
The session brought together researchers, specialists and professionals interested in the field, with discussions focusing on the future use of AI and digital transformation technologies to preserve heritage and make it accessible to future generations.