Mateen Program — Submit a project or problem
A guide for institutions
This guide is for organizations considering submitting a real challenge to the Mateen Program — SAIF's project-based applied AI research and talent-development program. It explains who this pathway is for, what to prepare, how review works, and what a project agreement covers.
Who this is for
Mateen may accept submissions from public institutions, universities, research bodies, civil-society organizations, nonprofits, companies, startups, and other credible organizations relevant to SAIF's mission in Syria and the Levant.
What makes a suitable challenge
A suitable challenge normally includes:
- A real operational, research, public-interest, or societal problem.
- A named internal project owner.
- Identifiable users, beneficiaries, or stakeholders.
- Reasonable access to relevant knowledge, data, systems, processes, or subject-matter experts.
- Willingness to participate in scoping and delivery.
- A plausible path to use, test, or evaluate the result.
Mateen is not positioned as general training or ordinary outsourced software development. Organizations may submit multiple challenges, but each must be submitted separately. A promising but immature challenge may be invited into further scoping rather than accepted immediately, and submission does not guarantee selection, funding, or delivery.
What to prepare
Before submitting, it helps to have a clear, plain-language description of the problem or challenge, the intended practical or social impact, a sense of available data and its sensitivity, a desired outcome, and an approximate timeline. If known, it also helps to name an internal problem or project owner and describe the infrastructure, systems, or technical access that may be available.
How review works
Review is a human judgment, not an automatic decision. SAIF considers problem clarity, ownership, data and access readiness, applied-AI relevance, and delivery feasibility before deciding whether further scoping is worthwhile.
Responsibilities and expected commitment
Accepted challenges normally move through a focused active delivery period of approximately eight weeks — not a guarantee or a rigid requirement, as actual duration depends on the project. Throughout this period, the institution is expected to participate: providing timely access to relevant people, data, or systems as agreed, engaging in progress reviews, and taking part in the final review, presentation, documentation, or transition step for the project.
Confidentiality and the initial submission
Initial submissions are for assessment and scoping only. Please do not submit highly sensitive data, credentials, personal datasets, trade secrets, or restricted source material through the initial form.
Before a selected project starts, a written project agreement addresses:
- Confidentiality and permitted disclosure
- Background and foreground intellectual property
- Data and system access
- Use and ownership of outputs
- Publication and open-source treatment
- Portfolio use
- Security
- Retention, deletion, or return of materials
- Whether the final review is public, limited, or confidential
How ownership works
Each party retains ownership of its own background knowledge and material brought into a project. By default, SAIF owns the new foundational work created through Mateen, and any usage rights the partner organization needs are set out in a project-specific licence. A different ownership arrangement is possible only as an expressly negotiated exception, and joint ownership is generally avoided. SAIF may also preserve rights to reuse general, non-confidential methods, components, and tools developed through its work, while confidential institutional data and partner-specific material are never reused improperly. Any open-source release, publication, or public presentation of project work requires deliberate approval and must respect confidentiality, privacy, security, and third-party rights.
This describes Mateen's general approach. The signed project agreement for each specific project controls the actual terms.
Cost and contribution
Submitting a challenge is free. Where a project proceeds, partner organizations are typically expected to contribute in ways relevant to the project — such as funding, data, infrastructure, specialist time, or other in-kind resources — with flexibility considered based on context and project value. Specific terms are set out in the project agreement, not on this page.
What selection does and does not imply
Acceptance of a challenge does not guarantee a particular timeline, team composition, funding arrangement, or outcome. It means SAIF considers the challenge a credible candidate for further scoping or delivery under a project agreement.
What happens after you apply?
- We confirm receipt immediately and review completeness.
- We may request clarification or a scoping discussion.
- We review feasibility and readiness before a possible invitation to further scoping.
- We communicate selection, deferral, or no current fit.
Frequently asked questions for institutions
What kind of organization can submit a challenge?
Public institutions, universities, research bodies, civil-society organizations, nonprofits, companies, startups, and other credible organizations relevant to SAIF's mission may submit a challenge for review.
What makes a challenge suitable for Mateen?
A suitable challenge normally includes a real operational, research, public-interest, or societal problem; a named internal project owner; identifiable users, beneficiaries, or stakeholders; reasonable access to relevant knowledge, data, systems, processes, or subject-matter experts; willingness to participate in scoping and delivery; and a plausible path to use, test, or evaluate the result.
Can we submit more than one challenge?
Yes. Organizations may submit multiple challenges, but each must be submitted separately.
What if our challenge is not fully defined yet?
A promising but immature challenge may be invited into a scoping conversation rather than accepted immediately. Submission does not guarantee selection, funding, or delivery.
What should we not include in the initial submission?
Please do not submit highly sensitive data, credentials, personal datasets, trade secrets, or restricted source material through the initial form. Sensitive terms are addressed later, in a written project agreement.
Is Mateen a way to outsource ordinary software development?
No. Mateen is not positioned as general training or ordinary outsourced software development. Submissions are reviewed for their potential to become meaningful applied AI research or development projects.
Who owns the work produced during a project?
Each party retains ownership of its own background knowledge and material. SAIF owns the new foundational work created through Mateen by default, and any usage rights for the partner organization are set out in a project-specific licence in the signed project agreement, which controls the specifics of each project.
Submit a project or problem
Ready to describe your challenge? The submission form is free to complete and does not obligate your organization to proceed.