Dr. Najwa Aaraj is Chief Executive Officer of the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC). She also serves as CEO of QuantumGate, focused on protecting critical data in the quantum era. She holds a PhD with Highest Distinction in Applied Cryptography and Embedded Systems Security from Princeton University. With more than 20 years of experience, her expertise spans applied cryptography, trusted platforms, embedded systems security, biometrics, software protection, robotics, and autonomous systems across air, land, sea, and underwater domains. Before joining TII, Dr. Aaraj was Senior Vice President of Products and Cryptography Development at DarkMatter. She previously held roles at Booz & Company, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Intel Security Research Group, and NEC Laboratories. Dr. Aaraj has published with IEEE and ACM, contributed journal papers and book chapters, and holds patents in cryptography, embedded security, and machine-learning protection for IoT systems. She is an adviser to Paladin Capital Group, an Adjunct Professor at MBZUAI, adviser to security and AI startups, and a board member of Abu Dhabi Ship Building. Her honors include the Arab Woman Awards Special Recognition and Princeton’s Wu Prize for Research Excellence.