Dr. Alaa Ahmad is the founder and Managing Director of MachineSens IoT, the Dubai company behind the BuildOT One smart building platform. He brings more than 21 years of building automation and facilities management experience, and a PhD in Digital Transformation.
| At a glance | Detail |
|---|---|
| Role | Founder and Managing Director, MachineSens IoT |
| Experience | More than 21 years in building automation and facilities management |
| Education | PhD in Digital Transformation and Executive MBA, University of Sharjah. BSc in Mechanical Engineering, Hashemite University |
| Research | More than 20 published papers on facilities management digitisation and smart infrastructure |
| Book | The Autonomous Building Playbook (in preparation) |
Career
Before founding MachineSens IoT, Dr. Alaa Ahmad spent more than eight years as Senior Facilities and Services Manager at Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, where he led the smart campus transformation. That work, and his research on energy saving on the same campus, shaped the approach MachineSens takes today: wireless sensing that fits existing buildings, and one platform that facility teams actually use.
Why he founded MachineSens
Leading a smart campus transformation gave Dr. Alaa Ahmad a close view of a common problem. Most buildings already have equipment worth monitoring, but rewiring them for a traditional BMS is slow, disruptive and expensive. MachineSens was built to close that gap with wireless sensors that install in occupied buildings and a single cloud platform that facility, energy and sustainability teams can share. A typical building goes live in about 30 days.
Research
His doctoral research at the University of Sharjah includes studies of how UAE facility managers adopt digital tools. His wider work covers IoT in smart buildings, AI for building energy, digital twins for predictive maintenance and digital transformation strategy. These are selected papers. The full list, with citations, is on his Google Scholar profile.
| Selected paper | Published in | Year | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revolutionizing Building Management: The ORBIT Framework for IoT-Powered Smart Buildings | International Journal of Management and Marketing Intelligence | 2025 | Scholar |
| Digitization and IoT-Driven Transformation of Smart Buildings | International Journal of Management and Marketing Intelligence | 2025 | Scholar |
| AI-Based Building Energy Management in Smart Cities | IEEE ICBITI 2025 | 2025 | Scholar |
| Analysis of Energy Efficiency in Public Buildings Using AI | IEEE ICBITI 2025 | 2025 | Scholar |
| Quantitative Exploration of Digital Facility Management Adoption Among UAE Facility Managers | International Journal of Data and Network Science | 2024 | Scholar |
| Qualitative Exploration of Acceptance Dynamics of Digital Facility Management Among UAE Facility Managers | Proceedings of AISI 2024 (Springer) | 2024 | Scholar |
| Digital Twin in Facility Management Operational Decision Making and Predictive Maintenance | Proceedings of AISI 2022 (Springer) | 2022 | DOI |
| Energy Saving Analysis of Smart Buildings: A Case Study of Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University Campus | Innovation Arabia | 2018 | Scholar |
The Autonomous Building Playbook
Dr. Alaa Ahmad’s book, The Autonomous Building Playbook, explains how buildings move from manual operation to data-led and autonomous facilities management. It is being prepared for publication as an ebook and a paperback.
What he leads at MachineSens
- BuildOT One, the cloud-native building operating system
- Wireless LoRaWAN and NRF sensors and gateways for existing buildings
- Case studies from UAE schools, campuses, hotels and commercial buildings
Frequently asked questions
Who founded MachineSens IoT?
Dr. Alaa Ahmad founded MachineSens IoT in the UAE and leads it as Managing Director.
What is Dr. Alaa Ahmad’s background?
He has more than 21 years in building automation and facilities management, a PhD in Digital Transformation and an Executive MBA from the University of Sharjah, and a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Hashemite University.
Has Dr. Alaa Ahmad published research?
Yes. He has authored more than 20 research papers on facilities management digitisation and smart infrastructure, with selected papers listed on this page and the full list on Google Scholar.
Is Dr. Alaa Ahmad writing a book?
Yes. His book, The Autonomous Building Playbook, is being prepared for publication as an ebook and a paperback.
Speak with Dr. Alaa Ahmad’s team
Tell us about your buildings and we will outline sensors, scope and timeline. Request a demo
