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SAIF — Syria AI Foundation
العربية

Founding Support Campaign · Investing in Syrian Innovation

Syria’s future needs its researchers.

The world needs their contributions.

Access. Guidance. Connections.

Investing in Syrian innovation starts with researchers. Syria AI Foundation (SAIF) connects talent with resources, mentoring, coordination, evaluation and research communities so strong questions can become credible work. Your support helps build the research capability Syria’s future needs.

Donate Introduce a contact to SAIF Share
operating floor
$30,000
full goal
$50,000
donor progress and use-of-funds reports
Quarterly

Watch the campaign film

In 94 seconds: why Syria needs its researchers, why the world needs their contributions, and how your support helps.

English and Arabic captions are available in the video player. Open the video

Why this matters

Syria needs researchers to rebuild scientific and technological capability, strengthen institutions and develop solutions grounded in its own needs. Global research also benefits when Syrian researchers contribute knowledge, research questions, linguistic expertise, data and perspectives that remain underrepresented in scientific and technological development. Arabic and Levantine language and knowledge representation in AI is one tangible example of that global relevance—not SAIF’s only research focus.

Why support is needed now

  • Researchers can have strong questions but lack tools, compute or data access
  • Mentoring and methodological guidance are not consistently available
  • Connections to peers, reviewers and institutions can be difficult to establish
  • Dedicated coordination is needed to keep support and milestones moving

Access. Guidance. Connections.

How SAIF helps Syrian researchers move from a promising question toward work that can be evaluated, documented and shared.

Access

Coordinate appropriate tools, compute, data and practical research resources.

Guidance

Provide mentoring, clearer questions, stronger methods, evaluation and preparation for external review.

Connections

Connect researchers with peers, mentors and research communities in Syria and abroad, without claiming unconfirmed partnerships.

Dedicated, paid coordination keeps requests, resources, mentoring and follow-up moving, and makes the support dependable.

How support works

  1. Step 1: Request

    A researcher sets out their question and the support they need.

  2. Step 2: Scope

    SAIF and the researcher agree the question, the support needed and the milestones.

  3. Step 3: Resources and expertise

    SAIF arranges appropriate compute, tools and data access, and connects mentors and peers.

  4. Step 4: Delivery

    Support is delivered and followed up against agreed milestones, with a named owner.

  5. Step 5: Documentation and evaluation

    Support, contributions and progress are recorded, work is reviewed and credit is recorded correctly.

SAIF reports the support it delivered. Researchers keep credit for their work. Researcher requests are handled separately from donations and are not part of this page.

A registered, launched institution with delivery experience already behind it

Training delivered

186

trainees attended the various SAIF training courses delivered at Bareeq Foundation and Damascus University.

Registered
An independent Syrian nonprofit, registered in 2026 with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.
Launched
Publicly launched in Damascus on 11 July 2026. Read the launch announcement →
Signed cooperation
A signed cooperation agreement with the Syrian Computer Society (SCS) concerning Syrian data and knowledge resources.

Meet the founding team →

What a six-month investment can enable

This approximately six-month charitable campaign funds practical research capability: paid coordination, intake, access to resources, mentoring, project records and donor reporting. Here, “investment” means charitable support for Syria’s research capacity, not an equity or commercial investment product.

Operating floor

$30,000

The operating core: paid coordination, intake, resource access, mentoring and reporting.

Full goal

$50,000

The same model with more researcher support, resource access and engagement capacity.

Working six-month targets
Measure $30,000 floor $50,000 full goal
Researchers receiving substantive support 10 15
Research projects advancing an agreed milestone 6 10
Documented research artifacts or submissions from supported work 3 5

These are working campaign targets, not guaranteed outcomes. “Projects advancing” does not mean publications.

Documented artifacts or submissions may include reviewed protocols, technical notes, documented experiments, evaluated prototypes, datasets or code, and manuscripts or submissions with correct attribution. They do not imply acceptance or publication.

Also tracked and reported, without numerical targets: access barriers resolved, mentor and resource contributions delivered, milestone follow-up and quarterly reporting.

From using technology to contributing original research and innovation.

  1. Now

    Approximately six months

    Establish dependable research facilitation: paid coordination, intake, practical resource access, mentoring, project records and donor reporting.

  2. Next

    As capability and funding grow

    Jointly shape and conduct selected projects, with clear contributions, research rights and responsibilities.

  3. Longer term

    Ambition

    Help Syria move beyond consuming and adapting technologies developed elsewhere toward contributing original research, knowledge and innovation to the world. This is a long-term institutional ambition, not a claim of achievement.

SAIF’s four enduring fields of work remain unchanged

  1. Pillar 1: Applied Research & Trusted Data

  2. Pillar 2: Agentic Systems

  3. Pillar 3: Training & Capability-Building

  4. Pillar 4: Standards & Responsible Adoption

AI is the focus of this first campaign. Arabic and Levantine language and knowledge representation is one concrete area of international research relevance, but SAIF is not exclusively an Arabic-language AI initiative.

Where the funds go

The working six-month budget at the $30,000 operating floor and the $50,000 full goal.

Working six-month budget
Category $30,000 floor $50,000 full goal
Operational staff, coordination & contributor stipends $9,000 $14,000
Research, training, coaches & advisors $5,000 $9,000
Facilities, rent & shared operational services $5,000 $7,500
Compute, GPU/equipment, software & systems $6,000 $10,000
Outreach, engagement & communications $1,500 $4,000
Finance, governance, reporting & contingency $3,500 $5,500
Total $30,000 $50,000

Working budget. Funding supports coordination capacity during the funded period and is not a commitment to permanent positions.

Donors can see who decides, who controls the funds and what was delivered

Project ownership

Each supported project has a named owner, agreed milestones and a documented record. SAIF reviews priorities, budgets and material commitments.

Research credit

Researchers keep credit for genuine scholarly contribution. Bringing an idea to SAIF does not transfer ownership. SAIF support is acknowledged.

Financial control

U.S. gifts are received by Bareeq Development Inc., a separate U.S. 501(c)(3), under the SAIF–Bareeq agreement. Bareeq Development Inc. retains independent legal and financial control over contributions for approved SAIF charitable work.

Quarterly reporting

Donors receive quarterly progress and use-of-funds updates, with support delivered reported separately from research outcomes.

Legal recipient
Bareeq Development Inc.
EIN
84-4935297
Status
U.S. 501(c)(3)

DONATE. INTRODUCE. SHARE.

Introduce

Introduce relevant mentors, researchers, institutions, companies, resource providers or potential supporters to SAIF—people and organizations able to contribute expertise, compute, data access, research resources or useful connections.

Introduce a contact to SAIF

contact@syriaaifoundation.org

Share

Share this page and the campaign materials with people who care about Syrian innovation, research and Syria’s future.

Share by email

General campaign contact: contact@syriaaifoundation.org

Campaign materials

The current approved campaign materials, for reading, forwarding and printing.

Building the people, research, and systems behind Syria’s AI future.

Intelligence is built, not imitated.