R/GA establishes official presence in Abu Dhabi to keep pace with the surge in infrastructure and sovereign AI

Creative innovation firm R/GA announced the establishment of an official presence for its operations in the Middle East and North Africa, based in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, in a move aimed at keeping pace with the rapid surge in AI infrastructure investments and sovereign projects that shape the region's digital future. The step follows a full decade of providing services to regional clients, during which the firm focused on designing and building brand systems, launching digital products, and reimagining mobile-first customer experiences powered by AI.

Regional operations are led by Bertrand Moran, who serves as chief executive for the Middle East and North Africa, at a time when the company's portfolio is experiencing continuous expansion across the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia through partnerships with major institutions and leading banks, including G42, Wio Bank, National Bank of Kuwait, Saudi French Bank, Emirates NBD, and Union Bank. The firm plans to move into a permanent, dedicated office in Abu Dhabi in the coming months, opening recruitment to add further talent and enlarge the local team in preparation for additional growth phases scheduled to begin in 2027.

Digital interaction interfaces are shifting from static pages to smart generative spaces that form instantly based on the user's intent and behavior.The company's technical strategy rests on its return to independent ownership in partnership with Truelink Capital, backed by an innovation fund of $50 million, together with its acquisition of the Addition studio, which specializes in designing and developing AI systems. This gives the firm engineering depth to offer differentiated services such as training custom AI models for specific brands, building adaptive commerce experiences, and developing bespoke generative interfaces.

This technical direction materialized in the recent collaboration between the firm and G42 early this year, with the launch of the generative platform Alpha.G42.ai, which aimed to test a new concept for interactive web interfaces; the organization’s interface with its audience is no longer a static template displaying pre-crafted text and links, but an interactive smart environment that responds to visitor requirements and generates content aligned with their intent in real time. According to Robin Forbes, the company's global chief executive officer, the decision to invest in establishing an entity in Abu Dhabi is directly driven by sovereign ambition and the scale of AI infrastructure being built in the region.

This shift imposes new operational and competitive standards on technology leaders and product and design teams in the region’s banks and companies.The move of advanced design and engineering agencies to work on the ground within Gulf capitals reflects a shift in focus from merely building data centers and supplying chips to engineering interactive experiences, placing banks and large institutions under urgent pressure to modernize their interfaces and applications toward generative systems that respond to customer intent rather than relying on static menus. Likewise, establishing studios that combine design with local model training requires technical and marketing talent in the Gulf, Egypt and the wider region to acquire practical skills in governing generative models and designing autonomous AI systems.