Some 600,000 tech jobs could be added to the Gulf Cooperation Council economies by 2030 through developing tech champions to grow their digital economies, according to research from Strategy&, which is part of the PwC network.
Regional gross domestic product could get a 5 percent boost by 2030 if the GCC can support these so-called tech champions alongside developing the right policies. Digital solutions, including emerging technologies, will fuel most of this growth.
Tech champions provide the economies of scale and scope necessary for innovation, talent attraction, job creation, large-scale investment, and exports.
“By instituting the right policies and by developing tech champions, GCC countries could reach the level of advanced digital economies, adding US$255 billion to regional GDP, of which $119 billion would be in Saudi Arabia,” the new report found.
The digital economy is currently growing six times as fast as its traditional counterpart, the research found.
“We project that with the broader spillover effect of technology, the digital economy can reach up to 25 percent of GDP globally. In the GCC countries, the digital economy’s contribution to GDP can increase from 12.2 percent to 13.4 percent as these countries transition from being digital adopters to becoming digital disruptors,” the report read.
Right now, companies in the region rely heavily on foreign firms for product development and service delivery. The report found that some GCC countries import up to 34 times as much digital technology as they export in dollar terms.
“The GCC stands to gain significantly if it can close the gap with leading digital economies, which themselves continue to develop fast,” the report found.
