Najwa Aaraj
CEO of the Technology Innovation Institute.
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Name in Arabic:
نجوى الأعرج
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Nationality:
Lebanese
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Country of Residence:
Lebanon , United Arab Emirates
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Najwa Aaraj's Bio
CEO of the Technology Innovation Institute since May 2024, United Arab Emirates.
She has been a consultant in the Strategic Advisory Group at Paladin Capital Group since October 2021, an assistant professor at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan since January 2023, and an assistant professor in the Machine Learning Department at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence since October 2021. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of Abu Dhabi Ship Building Company since February 20, 2024.
She served as a senior researcher at the Cryptography Research Center and the Autonomous Robotics Research Center at the Technology Innovation Institute from 2019 to 2024, was an advisor at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology from 2021 to 2023, and served on the advisory board of NUETigers in the United States from 2019 to 2023.
She joined DarkMatter in 2014, rising through the ranks to become Senior Vice President of Product Development and Cryptography. Prior to that, she was an Associate Director at Booz & Company, where she managed technology and communications consulting engagements for clients across four continents.
She also served as a research fellow for the Embedded Systems Security Group at IBM TG Watson Security Research in New York State and the Intel Security Research Group in Portland, where she worked on trusted platform models, contributed to an early prototype of TPM 2.0-based firmware, and was a research team member at NEC Laboratories in the US.
She has also written numerous research papers for conferences, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers , and the ICM Journal.
She holds several patents in applied cryptography, embedded systems security, and machine learning-based protection for Internet of Things systems, including a patent for "optimal performance integrity monitoring." She also received a Special Recognition Award at the 2021 Arab Women Awards, held in partnership with the United Nations to honor the outstanding achievements of women in the region.
She has expertise in applied cryptography, trusted platforms, embedded systems security engineering, software intrusion detection and prevention systems, and biometrics.
She holds a PhD in Applied Cryptography and Embedded Systems Security from Princeton University in the United States in 2009, and a Master's degree from the same university.




