Jordan × San Francisco · AI & Deep Tech
TUE · JUL 14, 2026 · House of AI, SoMa

Jordan Innovation Day

An evening bringing Jordan's AI and deep-tech story to the heart of San Francisco's builder community — the talent, the ventures, and the landing pad connecting the two.

RSVP on Luma Attend Virtually See the program
When
Tuesday, July 14Doors 5:00 PM · Program 5:30–9:00 PM
Where
House of AI40 Boardman Pl, SoMa, San Francisco
Who
Invite & RSVPFounders · investors · diaspora · operators
Why this room

Jordan's next economy is being built by Jordanians abroad — and a lot of them are building in AI, right here.

Jordan Innovation Day brings that story to House of AI: the diaspora talent, the applied-AI ventures already shipping results, and the trusted manufacturing and market-access bridge that lets U.S. builders reach the region.

One evening, three threads — talent, ventures, and a landing pad — and a room full of the people who can move each forward.

01 Connect

The Jordanian diaspora network linking professional talent abroad to opportunity at home.

02 Applied AI

Ventures putting AI to work on real problems — with documented, in-production results.

03 The Landing Pad

Hallabat — a trusted, allied base for U.S. deep-tech to build, test, and reach MENA & GCC markets.

The program

Run of show.

A fast-moving evening: framing, a frontier-AI session, the diaspora community, then food and the patio.

5:00

Doors & arrival

Coffee and the patio — early networking as the room fills in.

5:30

Why Jordan, why now

Opening framing — the case for Jordan as an AI and deep-tech partner, with an interview with Faisal Kawar (MENA Dev) on global AI companies already building with Jordanian engineers. Read more ↓

6:00

Insights from Two Jordanian Engineers at the Bleeding Edge of AI

A conversation with Boulos Harb (Google DeepMind) and Eman Barhoumeh (CR3ATE.AI), followed by live Q&A. Read more ↓

7:00

Communities that connect the global Palestinian and Jordanian diaspora

With Hisham Jabi of the Palestine Economic Forum — the networks turning dispersed expertise into economic momentum. Read more ↓

7:20

Connect — carry the momentum forward

The diaspora call to action: how to plug in as a builder, mentor, or investor.

7:35

Dinner & patio networking

Food, drinks, and the open floor — the real reason everyone stays.

Who should be in the room

The right 120 people.

Curated, not crowded — the people who can actually do business together.

A

AI founders & builders

SF-based teams shipping AI products who want talent, partners, or a regional base.

B

Investors

VCs and angels curious about MENA exposure, diaspora deal flow, and co-investment.

C

Jordanian diaspora

Engineers, operators, and founders abroad looking to give back and plug in.

D

Operators & partners

People who move deep tech across borders — manufacturing, market access, policy.

Your hosts

Convened by two people building the bridge.

Jordan Innovation Day is co-hosted by an operator and an investor who have spent years connecting Jordan's talent to global capital and markets.

Faris Gammoh

Faris Gammoh

Chairman, Newton Insurance · Founder, askNewton

Investor and operator building at the intersection of applied AI, insurance, and industrial development. Faris is focused on connecting San Francisco's AI ecosystem with Jordan's builders — the thesis behind Jordan Innovation Day.

Connect on LinkedIn
Walid Faza

Walid Faza

COO, Tangents

One of MENA's most active venture investors and operators. Walid is COO of Tangents — the native AI venture builder wired through SEE Holding's sustainable-cities group. Over 18 years he has backed the region's defining companies — early into Careem, Souq and Tabby — and remains a partner at MSA Capital, channelling global capital into Jordanian and MENA startups. The same bridge Jordan Innovation Day is built to scale.

Connect on LinkedIn
Opening session · 5:30 PM

Why Jordan, Why Now

The case for Jordan as an AI and deep-tech partner — told through the companies already doing it.

We open the evening with the argument at the heart of Jordan Innovation Day: that Jordan is not an emerging market waiting to be discovered, but a talent base already embedded in the work of the world's leading AI companies.

To make that concrete, we're joined by Faisal Kawar, Director of MENA Dev, for an interview on the real, live examples of global AI companies building with Jordanian engineers today — who they are, what they're shipping, and what it takes to make the model work.

The engineers are already here. The question is who builds with them next.
Faisal Kawar

Faisal Kawar

Director, MENA Dev

Working at the connection point between global technology companies and the region's engineering talent. Faisal joins us to walk through real, live examples of AI companies building with Jordanian engineers today.

Connect on LinkedIn
Featured session · 6:00 PM

Insights from Two Jordanian Engineers at the Bleeding Edge of AI

A conversation with Boulos Harb, Principal Engineer at Google DeepMind, and Eman Barhoumeh, founder of CR3ATE.AI — about building at two of AI's most consequential frontiers.

Boulos brings experience spanning large-scale search, ranking, algorithms and frontier AI research. Eman leads a team applying bleeding-edge research in computer vision, Gaussian splatting and LLMs to turn real-world spaces into photorealistic 3D Spatial AI environments — accessible both conversationally and via agents.

What changes when AI moves beyond generating answers — and begins understanding, ranking and reconstructing the world around us?

The conversation will also examine the paths that took two Jordanian engineers to the frontier of global AI, and what their journeys reveal about Jordan's potential to produce the next generation of globally significant technologists.

Boulos Harb

Boulos Harb

Principal Engineer, Google DeepMind

Previously spent nearly four years leading the evolution of search and ranking systems at Instagram. His work spans algorithms, large-scale AI systems, search, and frontier model development.

Connect on LinkedIn
Eman Barhoumeh

Eman Barhoumeh

Co-founder & CEO, CR3ATE.AI

Under Eman's leadership, the team is applying bleeding-edge research in computer vision, Gaussian splatting and LLMs to transform real-world spaces into photorealistic 3D Spatial AI environments — which can then be accessed both conversationally and via agents. Work that sits at the leading edge of spatial AI.

Connect on LinkedIn
Session · 7:00 PM

Communities that Connect the Global Palestinian and Jordanian Diaspora

The networks that turn dispersed expertise into economic momentum — and what it takes to build them.

Talent scattered across two dozen countries is only an asset if something connects it. This session looks at the organizations doing that work: how they curate membership, stay neutral, and convert a diaspora address book into knowledge exchange, hiring pipelines, and real ventures on the ground.

We're joined by Hisham Jabi of the Palestine Economic Forum — a platform for economic dialogue, knowledge exchange, and diaspora engagement, whose members span Palestine and more than two dozen countries worldwide. He'll walk through what's worked, what hasn't, and where the Jordanian and Palestinian networks reinforce each other.

A diaspora is a list of names until someone builds the connective tissue.
Hisham Jabi

Hisham Jabi

Palestine Economic Forum

Working to mobilize Palestinian expertise and diaspora networks — strengthening economic resilience, enabling knowledge exchange, and creating pathways that connect global talent to opportunity on the ground.

Connect on LinkedIn
Featuring on the night

Tangents × SEE Holding

Tangents is the native AI venture builder wired through SEE Holding — two decades of sustainable-city building consolidated into one group. Its living lab is real: Sustainable City Dubai (500 villas, 3,000 residents), extended across Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Oman to 12,000 units and 40,000 residents. Tangents architects intelligence into these cities from day one — Habitat OS, the operating system for city life, is live and scaling — and points toward Uruk, TSC 2.0: the post-AI city. Prove it in Dubai. Scale across the GCC. Take it global.

40,000
Residents across the living lab
12,000
Units across 4 live cities
20+
Group companies as day-1 clients
20+
Years of GCC trust & access
Also on stage · The landing pad

Hallabat — one platform, three engines.

Faris's other headline build. Hallabat Industrial Park is Jordan's integrated deep-tech platform: one serviced ecosystem across three reinforcing engines — sustainable energy and circular economy, advanced manufacturing and robotics, and AI and data-center infrastructure. Set in a private Free Zone with 100% foreign ownership, in the only Arab country with a U.S. free-trade agreement, and positioned as a friend-shoring landing pad reaching Iraq, the GCC, and East Africa.

01 · Energy

Sustainable Energy & Circular Economy

Waste turned to product; solar, storage, and lower-cost on-site power.

02 · Industry

Advanced Manufacturing & Robotics

A capex-light scale-up for hardware founders, anchored by the Minds & Machines Lab.

03 · Compute

AI & Data-Center Infrastructure

A free-cooled Tier III/IV campus (PUE 1.20–1.30) serving the Levant, Iraq, and East Africa.

441,000 m²
Serviced platform → 1.0M m²
100+ MW
Planned AI & data-center load
U.S. FTA
Only Arab country with one
Free Zone
100% foreign ownership
The venue

House of AI — SoMa, San Francisco

A curated AI coworking space and event venue in the heart of SF's AI ecosystem — work upstairs, "the club" event space downstairs, and an outdoor patio for the part of the night that matters most.

40 Boardman Pl, San Francisco 94103
3,000 sq ft event space · 2,000 sq ft patio
Full AV · catering · up to 200 guests
Caltrain 2 blocks · 101 & 280 one block

Open in Google Maps

40 BOARDMAN PL · SOMA
Seats are limited

Come build the bridge.

RSVP to join Jordan Innovation Day at House of AI on Tuesday, July 14. Curated guest list — request your spot below.

RSVP on Luma Getting there
Can't be in the room?

Attend Live From Anywhere

Join the global Jordan Innovation Day community online. Register through our official LinkedIn Event to receive event updates, reminders, and access instructions.

View LinkedIn Event

Free · Registered attendees receive updates, reminders & joining instructions

Watch keynotes and sessions live
Join remotely from anywhere
Participate in live Q&A where available
Receive event updates and follow-up materials

Is virtual attendance free?

Yes.

How do I attend?

Register through our official LinkedIn Event.

Will I receive updates?

Yes. LinkedIn will notify registered attendees of important event updates.

Will I receive joining instructions?

Yes. Registered attendees will receive instructions before the event begins.

The network

Apply to join the community.

Jordan Innovation is a curated network of founders, engineers, researchers, investors and operators building in AI and deep tech — across Jordan, the region, and the diaspora. Membership is by application.

Apply to join

Every application is read by a person. Approved members receive an invitation by email.
Community guidelines →