Fadi Salem
Co-Founder

Fadi is the Director of the Governance and Innovation Program at the Dubai School of Government. He was also an Associate at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School (HKS); and a Fellow at the I+I Policy Research Centre, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY SPP). His areas of expertise covers social media, youth empowerment and entrepreneurship; innovation policies, smart cities development; open government data, digital governance, ‘future of government’ models, citizen engagement, e-participation; and the impact of digital media transformations on political and social discourses in the Arab region. Fadi is a PhD in Public Policy candidate at the University of Oxford, and a graduate from the London School of Economics (LSE), and the School of Engineering, Aleppo University. He is a Syrian from Aleppo and a co-founder of several international development initiatives and NGOs focusing on youth, scholarship and creating cultural bridges such as Jusoor (JusoorSyria.com) and Project Encounter. Fadi is also an author of numerous publications and policy reports, including the widely cited ‘Arab Social Media Report’ series. He is a public speaker and a frequently invited guest in international conferences and policy forums, regularly commenting on Internet governance, technology policy in Arab societies. He is also a frequent media commentator on current Middle Easter affairs.