Mohammed Soliman

Mohammed Soliman is the director of the Strategic Technologies and Cyber Security Program at the Middle East Institute, where he leads a global team of scholars to explore the policy challenges associated with the intersection of technology, geopolitics, and business in the Middle East and emerging markets more broadly. A trained engineer, Mr. Soliman also advises businesses and executives at McLarty Associates, a global strategy firm, on strategic and policy issues across technology, finance, and energy. In addition, he serves as a non-resident senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and a visiting fellow with the National Security Program at Third Way.

Mr. Soliman has previously served as a country analyst for the Peace Tech Lab at the US Institute of Peace, as a Huffington Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, and as a Junior Centennial Fellow at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. A native of Cairo, he began his career as an engineer and worked as a consultant, providing strategic advisory services for local and international businesses.

Mr. Soliman has written for or been quoted by The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, USA Today, Nikkei Asia, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, and The National Interest, and has appeared on the BBC, France 24, and Deutsche Welle. He frequently speaks at conferences and has authored numerous journal articles and book chapters on emerging markets, geopolitics, and global technology policy.

Mr. Soliman earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Egyptian Aviation Academy and graduated with a Master of Science in Foreign Service with distinction from Georgetown University. He was included on the 2021 CSIS National Security & Foreign Affairs Top 50 Leadership List and is a Middle East Policy Council 40 Under 40 awardee. Mr. Soliman currently serves on the board of advisors for Ideas Beyond Border and the Advisory Council of the Indian Society of Artificial Intelligence and Law (ISAIL). He is a David Rockefeller Fellow of the Trilateral Commission. Mr. Soliman is a native Arabic speaker with reading and speaking knowledge of German, Persian, Spanish, and Turkish, and has lived in Jeddah, Washington D.C., and Mexico City, among other places.

Regions of Expertise
GCC, Egypt, Iran, North Africa, Israel, and India

Issues of Expertise
U.S. Middle East policy, Technology Competition, U.S.-China Compeition, AI, Cryptocurrency, Internet of Things (IoT), Geopolitics of 5G, Information warfare, Business diplomacy, and political economy