DistantNews
Support us
🇹🇳 Tunisia /Technology

Tunisia seeks diaspora support for health and AI startups, calls for balanced regulation

From La Presse · () French

Translated from French, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Context piece
  • Tunisia aims to leverage its medical and scientific diaspora to foster local health and AI startups.
  • A summit focused on artificial intelligence and healthcare brought together government, finance, and tech experts to discuss innovation and regulation.
  • The goal is to create a balanced regulatory framework that supports AI innovation in healthcare while ensuring safety and ethics, positioning Tunisia globally.

Tunisia is seeking to harness the expertise of its medical and scientific diaspora to stimulate the growth of local health and artificial intelligence startups. Dr. Riadh Chaker, a general surgeon and AI expert, highlighted this objective during the recent The Bridge AI & Healthcare Summit 2026.

This meeting is focused on artificial intelligence and on the mechanisms for involving Tunisian doctors abroad in the investment and support of Tunisian startups.

— Dr. Riadh ChakerSpeaking at The Bridge AI & Healthcare Summit 2026, discussing the engagement of the Tunisian diaspora in local innovation.

The summit centered on artificial intelligence and explored ways to engage Tunisian physicians abroad in investing in and supporting Tunisian startups. A key session, "Entrepreneurship in AI," convened various stakeholders to address the challenges of innovation within the healthcare sector. Discussions also delved into practical AI applications, alongside legislative, ethical, and responsibility issues in this rapidly evolving field.

Dr. Chaker emphasized the diverse participation, including representatives from the Ministry of Health, legislators, financial institutions like CDC, GFS, and Smart Capital, as well as tech experts. This collaborative environment aims to foster synergy between medical professionals, technology specialists, public institutions, and funding bodies. The need for adapting legal frameworks to avoid stifling innovation, while ensuring safety and ethical use of AI, was a significant point of discussion.

The need to adapt the legal framework so as not to hinder innovation, while guaranteeing the safety and ethics of uses.

— ParticipantsHighlighting regulatory challenges for AI in healthcare during the summit discussions.

Participants committed to contributing their expertise to help institutions develop a regulatory framework conducive to innovation. The overarching aim is to enable Tunisia to fully engage in the global AI dynamic with balanced and appropriate regulation. Success hinges on close cooperation among medical talent, tech experts, financial institutions, and public authorities to position Tunisia as a developer of innovative health solutions.

The objective is to allow Tunisia to fully engage in the global dynamic of artificial intelligence, while ensuring balanced and adapted regulation.

— Dr. Riadh ChakerStating the overarching goal of the regulatory discussions at the summit.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by La Presse in French. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog