Alotaibi, Mohammed
Digital statecraft and Sovereignty
Evidence-based policy design
Institutional reform and state capacity building
Systems engineering approaches to public policy
Policy decision-making in complex systems
Institutional learning systems & adaptive governance
PhD Engineering & Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University
MS Engineering & Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University
MS Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
BS Electrical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals
Mohammed Alotaibi is a senior practitioner-scholar in evidence-based policy design and national transformation, with an academic background in public policy and systems engineering and nearly two decades of senior roles across the GCC’s policy, regulatory, innovation and digital landscape. His work is shaped by two governance concepts developed from this experience: the Grand Design Paradox (how large national visions can unintentionally weaken institutional learning) and the Transactional Organization Paradox (how over-reliance on external vendors and consultants can hollow out state capability and long-term technical mastery).
During his visiting research fellowship at UNU-CRIS, Mohammed will work within the Digital Governance Cluster on how GCC digital infrastructures (AI, cloud, orbital connectivity, and cybersecurity) are becoming increasingly transnational, creating cross-border risks that national approaches struggle to govern. His research examines the idea that these infrastructures increasingly function as regional public goods, and explores what regional mechanisms for oversight, coordination, and institutional learning could look like, informed by comparative lessons from the European Union’s experience in governing cross-border digital interdependence.
His fellowship will combine comparative institutional analysis with empirically grounded case diagnostics, including process tracing across selected GCC states and interviews with policymakers and regulatory stakeholders. The work will aim to produce a UNU-CRIS working paper and policy brief that propose practical options for strengthening regional digital governance capacity in the GCC.