OPINION:Diplomacy is no longer declared – it is delivered.
In the Middle East, ambition is now tested by execution as Gulf capital, Israeli engineering and regional corridors converge, writes Aviva Steinberger, the interim CEO of Startup Nation Central
Diplomacy once revolved around declarations and ceremonies. Today, it is measured in output: whether infrastructure actually runs, whether capital produces productivity, and whether systems connect seamlessly across borders.
In the Middle East, innovation diplomacy has entered its most consequential and decisive stage, the moment when ambition is no longer announced but delivered, when vision meets operational reality and is tested not in summits but in systems.
Saudi Arabia set out to transform itself within a single generation. The program was sweeping: diversify away from oil, expand women’s participation in the workforce, attract global investment, build world-class cities, and anchor the Kingdom in advanced industries. The scale was historic. The timeline was compressed.
Some milestones have been achieved. Non-oil sectors now account for 50 percent of GDP, and the digital economy continues to expand rapidly. At the same time, the strain of implementation is visible. Foreign direct investment has fallen well short of targets and flagship mega projects such as NEOM and The Line have reportedly been reduced by 30 to 50 percent.
This adjustment reflects the complexity of building a diversified economy at scale. Financing infrastructure is measurable and immediate, but developing engineering ecosystems, regulatory coherence, and deep technical talent requires time. Industrial capacity grows through accumulated expertise, not only through capital deployment. When execution slows, expectations shift and priorities tighten.
Across the Gulf, different models are emerging to address that gap. The UAE has paired sovereign capital with regulatory agility, enabling faster integration of advanced technologies across finance, logistics, and energy. Bahrain has leveraged its financial services ecosystem and sandbox framework to accelerate fintech adoption and cross-border experimentation. Each economy is navigating the same structural challenge: translating strategic ambition into sustained productivity.
Israel’s role becomes clearer within that context. Its innovation economy is unusually dense for its size, built around thousands of technology companies operating within a network that includes hundreds of multinational R&D centers and one of the most active venture capital ecosystems globally. Technology anchors the broader economy, accounting for a substantial share of GDP and exports. Even amid geopolitical strain, Israeli tech companies raised $16.7B in private funding in 2025, an 18 percent year-over-year increase.
The significance lies less in the aggregate numbers and more in the operating culture. Israeli companies are structured to build for global markets from inception. They specialise in applied deep technology, from semiconductor design and AI accelerators to cybersecurity, climate systems, and industrial software. They integrate into complex enterprise environments and iterate under constraint, creating technical depth that complements large-scale infrastructure ambitions.
As Gulf economies expand computing capacity and digital infrastructure, the demand for specialised engineering intensifies. Advanced chip design, hardware optimisation, and secure architecture determine whether data centers operate efficiently or remain underutilised assets. Collaboration in semiconductors links investment with capability, shortening the path from construction to productivity.
Food systems reveal a similar intersection. Gulf countries import roughly 85 percent of their food, a structural vulnerability that requires more than policy adjustments. Precision irrigation, controlled agriculture, and climate-adaptive crop science translate strategy into yield. Israel’s agtech expertise, shaped by scarcity and environmental constraint, supports that transition with proven models rather than theoretical blueprints.
Healthcare modernisation follows the same pattern. AI-enabled diagnostics and structured medical data platforms improve efficiency while strengthening standards of care. As digital health systems expand across the region, integration of applied technologies determines whether reform generates measurable gains.
Regional connectivity efforts are now expanding beyond the Gulf itself. Platforms such as the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) aim to link India to Europe through the Gulf and Israel via ports, rail, energy grids, and digital infrastructure, embedding the Middle East within a broader transregional supply chain architecture.
Historically, intra-regional trade in the Middle East has remained below 10 percent, compared with roughly 40 percent in Europe. Corridors linking ports, rail, energy networks, and digital infrastructure aim to alter that balance. Their success will depend not only on physical construction, but on interoperable digital systems, secure data architecture, and resilient cyber and energy management frameworks that allow goods and information to move seamlessly across borders.
Large-scale transformation inevitably includes revision: projects are resized, and targets are recalibrated. Leadership adjusts course in response to market realities and geopolitical fluctuation. What determines long-term trajectory is the capacity to close the gap between vision and execution.
Innovation diplomacy offers a pragmatic mechanism for doing so. Gulf economies provide capital, scale, and long-term planning, while Israel contributes specialised engineering expertise and applied solutions that compress implementation timelines. India’s growing strategic engagement, highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s expected visit to Israel, signals how technology cooperation in areas such as digital infrastructure, water, agriculture, and advanced manufacturing is increasingly reinforcing broader geopolitical alignment.
Volatility remains part of the environment, yet economic interdependence grounded in functioning systems provides stability beyond rhetoric. When semiconductor design feeds regional compute infrastructure, when agricultural technology reduces import dependency, and when industrial software enhances manufacturing output, cooperation becomes embedded in productivity itself.
Ambition launched the transformation. Durable integration will depend on disciplined delivery and the alignment of capital with capability. In that convergence, innovation diplomacy moves from aspiration to architecture.
Aviva Steinberger is the interim CEO of Startup Nation Central, a Tel Aviv-based nonprofit organisation that promotes Israeli innovation around the world
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
