Saudi Arabia will invest more than $6.4 billion in future technologies, the Kingdom’s Minister for Communications and Information Technology, HE Engr. Abdullah Alswaha announced during his keynote address at LEAP22.
Today, the Kingdom’s technology market is worth more than $40 billion with over 318,000 jobs in the sector and the rate of participation of women in the ICT workforce at 28 percent.
The latest multi-billion-dollar investment is in line with the Kingdom’s drive towards becoming the region’s largest digital and innovation-based economy.
As part of the investments, Aramco Venture’s newly launched Prosperity7 fund will inject $1 billion to support entrepreneurs in building transformative companies and solving some of the world’s toughest problems.
NEOM Tech & Digital Company will also invest $1 billion in future technology projects, including the launch of the world’s first cognitive metaverse, XVRS that will serve residents and visitors of the smart giga-project, and M3LD, a personal data management platform that gives back control of data to the user.
stc also announced MENA HUB, a $1 billion investment in regional connectivity and infrastructure, which will support Saudi Arabia’s rapidly expanding digital and cloud sector.
LEAP also saw the launch of The Garage, a new platform for start-ups, investment and entrepreneurship by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). The Garage aims to launch start-ups with local and international potential and help them grow to become the leading technology companies of the future.
China-based J&T Express Group together with eWTP Arabia Capital and other partners will also invest $2 billion. It will see J&T establish its MENA headquarters in Riyadh and set up an extensive network of smart logistics and distribution facilities.
The Digital Cooperation Organisation (DCO), a multinational organisation established to enable digital prosperity for all, also launched the DCO Start-up Passport to make it quicker, easier and less expensive for start-ups to do business across borders.
“These investments and initiatives are a manifestation of the Kingdom’s push toward the growth of the digital economy for the greater good of people, the planet and the prosperity of the MENA region. They mark the next level of growth for the digital economy in Saudi Arabia, the MENA region’s largest technology and digital market,” said Eng. Alswaha.
Saudi Arabia is also home to some of the largest investments in cloud technology, with leading hyperscale cloud providers including Google, Alibaba, Oracle and SAP investing over $2.5 billion in the cloud in the Kingdom. Entrepreneurship is also flourishing in Saudi Arabia, with venture capital investment in 2021 exceeding the total for 2019 and 2020 combined.
