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The NEOM chief also touted The Line, the flagship development within NEOM, as a future world that will go live fully on AI

At the Global AI Summit in Riyadh, the CEO for NEOM announced that the $500 billion mega smart city project will use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to the fullest.

We show you our most important and recent visitors news details $20 billion investment target set for Saudi national AI strategy in the following article

The Saudi national AI strategy was announced at the virtual Global AI Summit by Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) president Dr. Abdullah bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi. The National Strategy for Data & AI (NSDAI) includes ambitious goals for skilling-up Saudi talent, growing the nation’s startup ecosystem and attaining global leadership in the AI space. It also aims to raise $20 billion in investment for data and AI initiatives.

People in Saudi Arabia with legal judgments against them for failing to pay money they owe, or failing to carry out a judicial order, will no longer automatically be denied access to all online government services.

However, anyone who owes more than SR1 million and fails to pay it back within three months will be jailed.

The world is becoming steadily more urbanized. Today, 56% of the world's population lives in cities, and by 2050 it’s forecast that seven out of ten people will live in cities.

As more people move to cities, the challenges associated with urban development and planning are ever more pressing for governments and urban development specialists. Traditional urban planning relied on historical data and the spread of demographics to plan and manage cities. However, as the population increased steadily, it became more difficult to predict future needs along with their complexities.

Riyadh has maintained its position as the 3rd Arab city in the IMD Smart City Index (SCI) 2023, which saw for the first time the Saudi cities of Makkah, Jeddah, and Madinah included in the index, ranking the 4th, 5th and 7th respectively.

At the global level, Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, and Madinah have ranked 30th, 52nd, 56th, and 85th respectively out of the 141 cities included in the index produced by The Smart City Observatory, which seeks to find out how technology is enabling cities to achieve a higher quality of life for their inhabitants.

Technology is increasingly being deployed at all levels of government around the world to combat COVID-19. While ARC sees significant headwinds affecting smart city markets over the next couple of years due to decreased tax revenue, reduced workforce, and more, many cities, states, and countries are forging ahead with large increases in technology investment both to combat COVID-19 and reignite economic growth in beleaguered cities. While ARC expects many smart cities related markets to decline in 2020, this increased investment in technology will provide an impetus for growth and quick recovery. Here are some examples of what’s happening around the world right now.

The second panel highlighted the essential elements needed for smart city development and the challenges KSA is currently facing in their construction

Construction Week Middle East’s KSA Infrastructure Summit kicked off with a provoking discussion, analysing the Kingdom’s advancement of infra projects named ‘Building on Vision 2030’.

The second panel highlighted the essential elements needed for smart city development, and the challenges which are currently faced in their construction.

For nearly as long as there have been cities, there have been efforts to create ideal cities. The Italian Renaissance saw the birth of places like Pienza and Palmanova, exquisitely planned centers that were monuments to humanistic thinking. In the 20th century, Brazil's Brasilia and India's Chandigarh fused political goals with avant-garde architecture. The dream seems ever constant: to fashion that fresh start, to build a living prototype that will inspire the world.

For a while, Saudi Arabia has been constructing and promoting a new futuristic city that defies the odds. The city’s name is ‘Neom,‘which stands for “new future.” It’s sustainable, controversial, and design-forward. It’s a “smart city” where technology and innovation collide. The city, is backed by $500 billion over the coming years. The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia manages the project. And it guarantees a “world-class” quality of life.

Here’s an inside look at what we know about Neom.

In the desert sands of Saudi Arabia’s deep northwest, thousands of workers are building a futuristic city that the kingdom says will be like no other.

Out of the ancient sands will emerge a high-tech urban centre called The Line: zero-carbon with flying drones for taxis, holographs for teachers and even a man-made moon.

The smart city is housed within NEOM, a $500-billion business zone aimed at diversifying the economy of the world’s top oil exporter, and the brainchild of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. NEOM is financed, in part, by the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, and is due to be completed by 2025.

Ranks second globally in corporate cybersecurity

Saudi Arabia ranked second globally in the field of corporate cybersecurity and jumped nine places to become No. 12 among the G20 countries in the e-government development index, according to the World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY).

The high-ranking reflects the remarkable achievements the Kingdom has made ever since it embarked on ambitious Vision 2030 launched by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman.

NEOM is dealing with no challenges or problems in establishing The Line, the 170-kilometer smart city, as Saudi Arabia is putting high efforts to make it happen, a stated by a top official.

In an exclusive meeting with Arab News on the offshoots of the World Travel and Tourism Council Global Summit in the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, last week, Peter Fitzhardinge, chief of Tourism Marketing at NEOM mentioned that the improvement operations in NEOM are developing progressively, and the USD500 billion venture is turning into a reality.

Saudi Arabia’s new AlNama smart city will be a zero-carbon community, according to the company charged with designing the development.

The hospitality hub, located on a 10 sq. km area in Riyadh, will create 10,000 jobs in various sectors, including green-tech industries to create a ‘green circular economy’, Construction Week reported.

• Kingdom will shift how we view urban development, according to Leading Cities CEO Michael Lake

Since the announcement of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has been in hyperdrive with ambitious ‘giga’ projects including Qiddiyah to NEOM that are set to change the way cities work.

According to Michael Lake, the CEO of the non-profit think-tank Leading Cities, they are not only set to change the face of the Kingdom, they are “really exciting developments, frankly, for the world.”

Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technology Haytham Bin Abdulrahman Al-Ohali has asserted that the Saudi leadership pays great attention to futuristic industries as part of efforts to enrich the citizen's life and meet his needs.

He said this was in line with the three main pillars of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030: a prosperous economy, vital society and ambitious nation, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Saudi Arabia has adopted a new strategy for smart cities, which aims to transform the municipal and residential sector services into smart services through digital technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT).

The strategy aims to enhance economic prosperity, environmental sustainability, and adequate government supervision.

The renowned physicist Albert Einstein once said: “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity,” and the ongoing crisis is no exception.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been a test of resilience for companies and governments alike. Supply chains have crumbled, and almost entire sectors of the global economy have all but grinded to a painful halt. Even the most essential things we have all taken for granted, such as schools for our children to learn from and the supermarkets from which we purchase food, are undergoing a complete transformation. They’re actively being replaced by 21st-century manifestations of themselves, like virtual classes and delivery services.

An increased emphasis on e-learning in Saudi Arabia’s education system, coupled with targets to modernise teaching methods, underpin a wider drive to diversify the economy away from oil and create more jobs.

Last year, a five-year SR80bn ($21.3bn) plan was approved to develop Saudi Arabia’s education sector, in addition to the annual allocation to the Ministry of Education. As part of the plan, 25,000 teachers will be trained overseas and resources are to be allocated to improve the online capabilities of educational institutions and promote e-learning.

The Saudi government must keep pace with technological advances if the Kingdom is to stay on course to become the digital hub of the region, a major international conference has been told.

More than 200 executive directors of information technology from government departments throughout Saudi Arabia, gathered in Riyadh to discuss digitization and how to adapt it to benefit society.

The first edition of the Global Smart City Forum 2024 concluded in Riyadh on Tuesday with a revelation that Saudi Arabia is poised to create more smart industrial zones. The two-day forum saw several deliberations focusing on the future of smart cities and the challenges facing their infrastructure. The forum stressed the importance of integrating smart energy solutions for a sustainable future. It was revealed in the forum that the smart industrial zones would have great opportunities for the future in the fields of manufacturing and mining.

Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing Majed Al-Hogail inaugurated the forum, organized by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, at Riyadh Arena. A large number of global city experts, specialists in data, artificial intelligence and digital solutions, smart city engineers, investors and economic policy makers from 40 countries participated in the conference under the theme “A Better Life”.