From Campus to Company: Two University Spinouts, Two Founder Paths

What changes when the founder is a student, versus a professor? In this university-led session, Dr. Maher Hakim hosts two startups born at the same institution – Carnegie Mellon University Qatar – to compare their paths from idea and/or technology to market.

The panel will explore speed, credibility, access to labs and talent, fundraising readiness, and how universities can better support both types of founders – without slowing them down.

Expect practical lessons on teams, IP, mentors, and the first “real” customers—told from two different founder journeys.

For more information, visit Web Summit Qatar 2026

Maher Hakim
Distinguished Career Professor

Dr. Hakim is a sought-out expert and educator in technology innovation and entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship financing and venture capital. He is a Distinguished Career Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Hakim is the founder and CEO of Innovation Foundry – a consultancy firm delivering innovation-related advisory services to corporations, government agencies, venture capital firms, and startups. Additionally, he is the Chief Advisor of Innovation and Enterprise at Qatar’s Research, Development and Innovation Council, and a Partner at 212 – a venture capital firm based in Istanbul focused on regional startup investments in digital technologies.
Previously, Dr. Hakim was the executive director of UC Berkeley’s tech innovation hub, the managing director of Qatar’s Science and Technology Park, and the head of Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Innovation Entrepreneurship in Doha, Qatar. Dr. Hakim taught innovation and entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University Qatar, the University of California Berkeley, and the European Innovation Academy. His prior experience included launching and building several technology startups and leading innovation groups in Autodesk, Infor and First Advantage.

Dr. Hakim invested in numerous tech startups, supported efforts to build innovation ecosystems around the globe, and mentored and coached startup founders and tech investment professionals. He is a technologist by education and holds a PhD in Computer-Aided Engineering and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Mohammad Hammoud
Associate Teaching Professor, Computer Science

Dr. Mohammad Hammoud is an Associate Teaching Professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q). He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh, USA. His research spans a wide range of interests in artificial intelligence (AI) and computer systems, with a current focus on developing effective models and scalable distributed systems for real-world AI and natural language processing (NLP) applications.

At CMU-Q, Dr. Hammoud teaches a diverse set of courses, including AI for medicine, distributed systems, principles of computing, and entrepreneurship. Beyond academia, he is the Founder and CEO of Avey, a rising AI startup based in Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP). Avey has invented and pioneered a novel and universally accessible AI-powered medical diagnostic and coding ecosystem, reflecting Dr. Hammoud’s commitment to advancing real-world and impactful AI applications.

Abed Al Karim Khattab (BA, 2016)
Founder, HeliumDoc & Sentralife

Abed is a leader and entrepreneur at the forefront of healthcare innovation and digitization in the MENA region. He is the General Manager of HeliumDoc, a leading digital health platform in GCC and Africa, and the Founder of Sentralife, a public safety technology company, leveraging technology to improve and save lives in Qatar.

Speakers

Dr. Maher Hakim Distinguished Career Professor, Entrepreneurship, CMU-Q

Dr. Mohammed Hammoud Associate Teaching Professor, Computer Science, CMU-Q

Abed Khattab (BA, 2016) Founder, HeliumDoc and Sentralife