The UAE is Named a Leading Real-World Example of a “Digital State” at Multipolitan Roundtable

Senior government officials from Barbados and Ukraine join global leaders in digital identity, AI governance, and space infrastructure to discuss how modern statehood is being rebuilt for the AI era.

Dubai, UAE - 12 January 2026: The UAE’s digital identity systems, AI-enabled public services, mobility-led residency pathways, and space infrastructure strategy were spotlighted by global ministers and technology leaders as some of the clearest real-world examples of an emerging “Digital State,” during a virtual roundtable hosted by Multipolitan’s Digital State Project.

Ministers and senior officials from Barbados, Ukraine, and innovators from Estonia, Palau, and global decentralized identity, immersive technology, and space-infrastructure sectors, discussed how governments are re-engineering citizenship, sovereignty, and service delivery for a digital-first world with several noting that the UAE offers one of the most advanced examples.

The roundtable coincided with the public launch of Multipolitan’s Digital State Project report, a new global research initiative examining how digital identity, AI, interoperability, resilience layers, and orbit-based infrastructure are transforming the operating model of nation-states.

The UAE is already operating at digital-state scale

Participants repeatedly cited the UAE’s progress across digital identity, AI-enabled public services, paperless government, and satellite-enabled infrastructure as a working template for what Digital States will look like globally.

Nirbhay Handa, Co-Founder & CEO of Multipolitan, highlighted the UAE alongside Singapore, Estonia, and Ukraine as jurisdictions that have advanced digital public services: “Countries are starting to operate like platforms but the UAE is one of the few places where this shift is already visible at scale. Digital identity, AI-enabled public services and space-backed infrastructure are not experiments here; they’re everyday reality.”

He noted that UAE Pass and digitialized public access systems have delivered billions of dirhams in savings and millions of hours returned to the economy, demonstrating how digital governance is becoming an economic capability.

Barbados Minister: talent attraction and digital trust as strategic imperatives

Jonathan Reid, Minister of Science of Barbados, pointed to global competition for talent and digital trust frameworks. Reid argued that smaller nations can increasingly compete through cohesive, high-trust digital systems, emphasizing residency pathways, digital identification, upgraded infrastructure and privacy-preserving cryptography as essential components.

Reid noted that the moment is “urgent and opportunity-rich,” especially for jurisdictions able to design high-trust systems without legacy constraints.

Ukraine: National-scale digital identity as the foundation of state capability

Olexandr Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, described how Ukraine scaled digital identity and remote public services under crisis conditions, stressing that that digital identity is the non-negotiable foundation for any country seeking to operate at digital speed.

Bornyakov’s framing aligns closely with how the UAE built its own digital access layer, providing a comparative reference point—though he did not refer to the UAE directly.

Space infrastructure: ‘There is no digital state without space’

Anna Hazlett, Founder & CEO of AzurX, argued that orbital infrastructure is becoming a core national capability underpinning everything from financial timing to climate monitoring and resilient communications. She noted that as launch costs fall and commercial space infrastructure expands, states will need to rethink regulation, access and economic models in orbital environments. Her analysis draws parrallels with the UAE’s rapidly expanding space programs and national space strategy.

AI and the rise of the “agentic state”

Luukas Ilves, Former CIO of Estonia and Advisor to Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation and author of The Agentic State, discussed the shift from deterministic portals to AI agents that can execute mandates and adapt to complex public-sector tasks.

Ilves emphasised that adoption will be uneven, and countries that move early may gain structural advantages; echoing themes reflected in the UAE’s national AI strategy and early deployment of AI-enabled services.

Island states and climate continuity

James Ellsmoor, Founder & CEO of Island Innovation, explored how climate-vulnerable nations are using digital mechanism, including digital continuity programs, to preserve identity, records and sovereignty when territory is at risk.

His contribution highlights an adjacent but growing dimension of digital statehood: resilience and long-term continuity.

Why this moment matters

Participants aligned on a shared thesis: digital statehood is not a future concept but an operating reality emerging across the world’s most adaptive governments. Panellists agreed that the UAE’s AI strategy and city-wide deployment of AI-enabled services position it as a jurisdiction “already entering this next phase.” The UAE is a case study in the coherent demonstration of integrated digital governance.