HWG Sababa, the Italian-headquartered cybersecurity provider with a global footprint and a dedicated Middle East presence through HWG Cyber Security, backed by global investment firm Investcorp, and Open Innovation AI, the UAE-based sovereign AI infrastructure and orchestration company, have signed a strategic collaboration agreement at GISEC Global 2026 in Dubai, the region’s largest cybersecurity event.

The agreement marks the beginning of a long-term partnership combining HWG Sababa’s cybersecurity expertise, established delivery capabilities and growing international presence with Open Innovation AI’s sovereign, scalable and hardware-agnostic AI platform, infrastructure orchestration capabilities and AI security technologies.

Under the agreement, the two companies will jointly identify commercial opportunities, develop integrated solutions and support governments, critical infrastructure operators and enterprises seeking to adopt artificial intelligence securely, at scale and under their own control.

The collaboration will focus on four areas:

• AI-powered threat detection, monitoring and response, integrating Open Innovation AI’s platform into HWG Sababa’s managed security services
• Security for AI models, applications and agentic AI systems, enabling organisations to assess, govern and protect their AI deployments
• Secure and sovereign AI infrastructure for governments and critical infrastructure operators
• Joint go-to-market initiatives across Europe and the Middle East, with an initial focus on Italy and the GCC

“Artificial intelligence is transforming both the cybersecurity threat landscape and the technologies available to protect critical systems,” said Enrico Orlandi, Co-Founder and Chairman of HWG Sababa. “Through our collaboration with Open Innovation AI, we will combine our cybersecurity expertise, operational capabilities and European market presence with advanced sovereign AI technologies. Both companies share a clear ambition to grow internationally, which makes this partnership a strong strategic fit for the next phase of our expansion. Together, we aim to deliver innovative, resilient and trusted solutions to organisations across Europe and the Middle East.”

Dr. Abed Benaichouche, Co-Founder and CEO of Open Innovation AI, added: “Artificial intelligence and cybersecurity can no longer be addressed separately. This partnership brings together two highly complementary areas of expertise and establishes a strategic bridge between Europe and the Middle East. Both HWG Sababa and Open Innovation AI share the ambition to expand globally, and this collaboration is a natural strategic fit that allows us to grow together into new markets. Together, we will help governments and enterprises deploy AI securely and at scale while retaining full control over their data, models, infrastructure and operations.”

The two companies will begin joint customer engagements in the coming months, with the first integrated offerings expected to be announced in early 2027.