PIF and Localization of Technologies

The “communication, media and technology” sectors are among the strategic sectors of the Public Investment Fund in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 2021-2025. One of the objectives of the Public Investment Fund program in these sectors is “localization of technologies and knowledge”, hence my initiative: “Developing innovation capabilities in the Kingdom through Localizing the technology sector and developing the communications and media sectors” as well as “enhancing the position of the Public Investment Fund as an intellectually leading digital institution in the future” due to their great importance in achieving returns, building and promoting a sustainable economy for the Kingdom, as well as contributing to the success of the quality of life program in the Kingdom.

Much progress has been made in the initiative “Developing innovation capabilities in the Kingdom through the localization of the technology sector and the development of the communications and media sectors”, after the establishment of the Saudi Information Technology Company “SITE” to provide cybersecurity, secure digital computing and important technical solutions to government and private agencies in the Kingdom. Likewise, Elm has become a leading entity in the information technology services sector, after it signed a share purchase agreement to acquire the Saudi Company for Electronic Information Exchange (Tadawul). Among the opportunities available to the Public Investment Fund through this initiative is the great efforts of the National Transformation Program of “digital empowerment” in all sectors of the Kingdom, according to Vision 2030, as well as increasing spending locally and globally in the technical field due to the importance of digital transformation in achieving returns, building capabilities and raising the level of efficiency Achieving a competitive advantage at the local and international levels.

On the other hand, and since the performance of the Public Investment Fund depends to a large extent on the presence of digital technologies, much progress has been made through the Fund’s initiative “Strengthening the Public Investment Fund’s position as an intellectual leading digital institution in the future.” In this initiative, the construction of the fund’s digital infrastructure and data center has been completed, many operational, security and investment technical systems have been approved, digital transformation is implemented through technical documentation and the implementation of self-services by automating many of the operational and administrative procedures and processes and automating their workflow. A recovery center for technical systems for disaster management and business continuity was also built in the fund.

It is worth noting that the technology industries in the Kingdom aspire to provide more than 124,000 jobs by 2030, as well as support the technology sector through progress in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence, and achieve an expected increase of $4 billion in the GDP of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by 2030. .

With the aim of transforming the Kingdom into a leading country in the field of communications technology and digital transformation, in which it occupies the 36th place globally, the Kingdom has achieved exceptional progress in the global technology index, with an average of 14 points of progress internationally during the year 2020, and it also ranked 27th globally and 8th among a group of countries 20th in the e-government development index, and also made great progress in many other international technical indicators, as it ranked 2 globally in the cybersecurity index, 9 globally in the technology development and application index, 7 globally in the technology development financing index, and 22 globally in The global index of artificial intelligence, and the Kingdom also jumped 40 places in the ICT digital infrastructure index. And that tremendous progress, during the past few years, is just a few of what the dear country aspires to, and during the next few years, we will see more and more enormous goals and ambitions that will be successfully achieved on the ground, in line with Vision 2030.