LEAP saw key players from Saudi Arabia’s public and private sectors launch new initiatives to support the Kingdom’s bid to become the region’s largest innovation-based economy.
Saudi Arabia’s inaugural LEAP summit, which was held from 1st to 3rd February in Riyadh, gathered industry experts, business decision-makers, entrepreneurs and investors from across the globe to discuss the future of technology.
The event saw the Minister for Communications and Information Technology, HE Engr. Abdullah Alswaha, announce a major initiative that will see the Kingdom invest more than $6.4 billion in future technologies and in enabling entrepreneurship.
LEAP also saw key players from Saudi Arabia’s public and private sectors launch new initiatives aimed at supporting the Kingdom’s bid to become the region’s largest digital and innovation-based economy.
Here are some of the key announcements made at LEAP:
The Garage
Inspired by the foundations of Silicon Valley, the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) has announced the launch of ‘The Garage: Start-up District’, a combination of physical location, start-up incubator, accelerator and more.
The Garage will provide start-ups with grants, investment, marketing and training support, full-service workspaces, in addition to access to deep-tech labs, talent and research networks. In addition, it will also provide incentives to empower local and international start-ups to become industry leaders.
NEOM metaverse
NEOM Tech & Digital Company has unveiled XVRS, a first-of-a-kind digital twin metaverse platform. The company touts it as the only cognitive metaverse in development with all features in one scalable platform. It seeks to bridge physical and digital environments and offer real-time translation and humanoid robotic avatars.
With the launch of XVRS, NEOM Tech & Digital will also introduce M3LD – a data management platform that empowers users to regain control of their data.
Joseph Bradley, CEO of NEOM Tech & Digital Company, said, “The future will be defined by cognitive meta cities. It is a vision focused on experiences rather than scale. XVRS puts human needs at its core – it is designed to give people more time, space and enhanced safety. M3LD, meanwhile, will place data ownership back in the hands of users and restore trust in the data economy.”
DCO Startup passport
The Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) has introduced the Start-up Passport, which makes it quicker, easier and less expensive for start-ups to do business across borders. The Start-up Passport provides expedited entry and support in the markets of eight DCO countries. The initiative will be rolled out initially in Saudi Arabia and Nigeria.
During LEAP 22, the DCO also endorsed Elevate50, an initiative launched to support 50,000 small to medium-sized enterprises over the next three years to sell their products online. Supported by the Jordanian ecommerce platform MakanE, Elevate50 is projected to generate 5,000 jobs and specifically target businesses run by women and young people.
Ignite
The Digital Content Council announced Ignite, a new programme aimed at transforming Saudi Arabia into a leading digital entertainment and media production hub. Backed by a $1.1 billion investment, Ignite aims to triple Saudi Arabia’s digital content market size in gaming, audio, video and advertising.
Ignite will create a comprehensive ecosystem that will attract digital content companies and grow the local media and content creation sector. It will also provide participants with incentives including financial support; infrastructure development; talent development programmes and improved policies and regulations.
CITC WiFi 6E and LEO satellite technology
At LEAP, the Kingdom has also announced the launch of WiFi 6E. The network upgrade will enable Saudi Arabia to benefit from the fastest achievable WiFi speeds globally (2.4 Gbps). This increased connectivity is expected to quadruple WiFi’s overall contribution to the nation’s GDP rising from $4.7 billion in 2021 to more than $18 billion by 2030.
In addition, the Kingdom will also hold the first regional trial of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite technology to extend reliable coverage to remote areas. CITC will also hold a frequency auction during the first half of this year, a development that’s aimed at placing Saudi as the first globally for spectrum available to 5G networks and mobile communications.
Security data lake
Cybersecurity firm Trend Micro has announced the opening of a security data lake in the Kingdom along with its regional Middle East & Africa (MEA) headquarters in Riyadh.
The move is part of the company’s $50 million worth of investments in Saudi Arabia.
The security data lake will help maintain and manage all logs or other data sources relevant to an organisation’s security posture. It provides a single place for security data to be housed, parsed, searched and utilised.
The first edition of LEAP gathered over 100,000 visitors and 700 global companies over three days.
