Saudi Arabia has enhanced its government entities’ readiness to adopt emerging technologies in 2024.
Emerging technologies are critical drivers of the transformative Saudi Vision 2030, that aim to diversify the Kingdom’s economy away from oil. Therefore, investors have shown increased interest in digitization and automation technologies.
Enhanced Performance
According to the annual report released by the Digital Government Authority (DGA), Saudi government agencies have significantly improved their performance in the “Emerging Technologies Adoption” index in 2024.
Their performance has surged by 10% compared to last year, jumping from 60.3% in 2023 to 70.7% in 2024, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). This improvement has been driven by an increase in the number of participating government agencies from 13 to 35.
The “Emerging Technologies Adoption” index measures the progress made by government agencies in implementing new technology solutions in 2024. These achievements come as Saudi Arabia gets ready to mark the 94th Saudi National Day, on September 23. The Kingdom will celebrate the remarkable accomplishments made towards achieving the goals of Vision 2030.
Rapid Advancements
The DGA report highlighted the government entities advancements in adopting emerging technologies across various areas.
The research capability achieved 72.04%, while the communication capability reached 71.88%. Moreover, integration recorded 67.93%, and proof capability achieved 70.84%. These figures reflect advanced levels of development.
In the field of emergent technologies, drones have made aerial photography and real estate imagery easier, leading to an 80% increase in operational efficiency and reducing time and effort. Meanwhile, augmented and virtual reality technologies have boosted digital experiences for people with special needs, and therefore increased their access to digital services.
Furthermore, the digital twinning of industrial cities, enabling the accurate inventory of assets for 22 out of 36 industrial cities.
Emerging Technologies
Digital governments around the world invest in leading emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), which is deployed to improve government services; the Internet of Things (IoT); which is used for data collection and analysis; virtual reality (VR) for providing interactive citizen experiences; and 3D printing for manufacturing parts and components.
In the light of this, Saudi Arabia has made significant progress towards harnessing advanced technology to improve services for citizens, residents and visitors.
These recent improvements align with the objectives of Vision 2030, and the Kingdom’s commitment to modernizing its digital infrastructure. They stress Saudi Arabia’s progress in its transformation journey towards a digital future.
Major Strides
Saudi Arabia has succeeded in topping global AI indicators. In the International AI Index Report 2024, issued by Stanford University, the Kingdom ranked among the leading nations globally for developing a national strategy for AI.
Additionally, Saudi Arabia ranked first in the Government Strategy Index for AI, part of the Global AI Index 2023, issued by Tortoise Intelligence, which assesses over 60 countries.
The Kingdom excelled in this index’s criteria, which involve having a dedicated national AI strategy, a specific government entity for AI, allocated funding and budget for AI, and defined national AI targets.
Saudi AI Strategy
Saudi Arabia approved its first National Strategy for Data and AI (NSDAI) in 2020, developed by the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA). The strategy aims to transform the Kingdom into a global hub for AI, by enacting the most welcoming legislation for Data and AI businesses and talents to rank among the top 10 countries in open data.
Moreover, the strategy aims to empower top Data and AI institutions to lead innovation in order to rank among the top 20 countries in scientific contribution and enrich data and AI entrepreneurship by establishing over 300 startups.
