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How UAE's Great Arab Minds winner helped power phone cameras, networks used worldwide
Abbas El Gamal was the first winner to be announced by Sheikh Mohammed on December 10, with a series of other winners revealed in the days that followed
From camera sensors inside smartphones to communication networks that carry data across the globe, technologies shaped by Arab scientist Abbas El Gamal are used by billions every day.
This year, his decades-long contribution to imaging, electronics, and communications was recognised when he was named one of the winners of the Arab Great Minds initiative for 2025, announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
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El Gamal was the first winner to be announced by Sheikh Mohammed on X on December 10, with a series of other winners revealed in the days that followed. The announcement placed early focus on the role Arab scientists have played in shaping core technologies that underpin modern life.
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Speaking in an exclusive interview with Khaleej Times, El Gamal reflected on how research that began decades ago went on to transform global industries.
“My research that contributed to the development of CMOS image sensors was more engineering-oriented than theoretical, but I never expected it to become anywhere near as widely deployed as it has,” he said.
CMOS image sensors are the tiny electronic chips that convert light into digital images and sit at the heart of smartphone cameras and many other imaging devices.
When El Gamal and his peers began exploring CMOS image sensors, mobile phones were used only for voice calls. Cameras were either film-based or relied on charge-coupled devices, known as CCDs, which consumed high power and were poorly suited to integrated circuits.
“At the time, the idea of CMOS image sensors was not taken seriously as a competitor to CCDs in image quality,” he said. He recalled organising a panel discussion at a major international conference in 1997 titled 'Will CMOS Ever Replace CCDs?', where most experts firmly believed the answer was no.
“The rest is history,” he said.
Today, CMOS image sensors are embedded in smartphones, security systems, medical devices, and vehicles, forming the backbone of modern imaging.
The Arab Great Minds initiative was launched to spotlight exceptional Arab thinkers, scientists, and innovators whose work has had a lasting global impact. Announced annually, the initiative aims to celebrate excellence across fields including science, technology, medicine, culture, and the humanities, while encouraging future generations to pursue research and innovation.
Winners are selected based on the depth, influence, and long term contribution of their work, with a focus on ideas that advance human knowledge and development both regionally and internationally.
Beyond imaging, El Gamal’s work also helped advance field programmable gate arrays, which simplified and reduced the cost of designing electronic systems. While he expected these tools to be adopted by engineers, he said he did not anticipate how widespread they would become in education and system prototyping.
His contributions to network information theory further shaped how modern communication systems handle data and interference. The research influenced wired technologies such as digital subscriber lines and wireless systems ranging from 3G to today’s 5G networks, with implications for future 6G development.
“A simple way to avoid interference is to let users take turns transmitting, but that is very inefficient,” he explained. “Network information theory showed that we can do much better.”
One of the outcomes of this research was the use of multiple antennas at base stations and mobile devices, allowing several data streams to be transmitted at once. This approach is now a core feature of modern cellular standards.
On the Arab world’s role in shaping future technologies, El Gamal said Arab researchers are already making meaningful contributions, though many are based abroad.
“Researchers in the Arab world could benefit greatly from collaborations with them through joint research projects, lectures, and advising,” he said, adding that greater long term investment in research and capacity building is needed for the region to move from consuming technology to creating it.
He also stressed the importance of recognising scientific achievement.
“Elevating the status of researchers through initiatives like the Great Arab Minds Awards will inspire the next generation of Arab scientists and engineers,” he said.
For El Gamal, the recognition carries personal weight.
“This is the first award I have received from an Arab country,” he said. “Although I left Egypt and the Arab world more than fifty years ago, Egypt and the Arab world have never left me.”
He said being honoured under an initiative sponsored by Sheikh Mohammed was deeply meaningful, both professionally and personally.
Waad Barakat
Waad Barakat is a Special Correspondent covering security topics, from law enforcement to local courts. With a keen eye for human interest stories, she hopes to blend it all with unique Gen Z-inspired content.
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