Blockchain can Accelerate Saudi Arabia’s Digital Transformation
In its ‘Saudi Vision 2030’ initiative, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has an ambitious plan for digital transformation that includes investment in cutting-edge technologies like IoT, artificial intelligence(AI), smart cities, and blockchain.
At the recent Saudi Vision 2030 Summit in Riyadh, industry leaders, academic experts, and government representatives from companies working with the Saudi Arabian government discussed the role of blockchain technology in advancing digital transformation in the country. The two-day event was hosted by BSV International Association, an independent not-for-profit organization, and ThinkTech — an initiative by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies. In this article, we’ll go to illustrate how blockchain can accelerate Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation.
Digital Transformation within Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s(KSA) robust digital infrastructure has enabled the country to face public and private sector disruptive crises, ensuring business continuity, educational operations, citizen requirements, and daily resident lives. The Kingdom has been ranked among the top ten developed countries globally for its strong digital framework.
The Kingdom’s efforts to improve digital services for beneficiaries include partnering with the private sector to provide fiber-optic network coverage to more than 3.5 million homes across the Kingdom. This has increased internet traffic during the pandemic by 30%, doubled the internet traffic through SAIX, increased internet speed from 9Mbps in 2017 to 109 Mbps in 2020, and completed the expansion of the internal coverage system at the Holy Mosque in Makkah.
As part of Vision 2030, the Kingdom was named the “Top Digital Riser” among G20 nations due to its comprehensive government support for digital transformation.
Blockchain Applications in Saudi Arabia
Alasmary observes that Saudi Arabia will need blockchain solutions tailored to address specific challenges as it undertakes its digital transformation initiative. Such solutions could help accelerate the country’s digital transformation and greatly improve the efficiency of government and enterprise operations.
For Saudi Arabia, blockchain will have a role in digital transformation. The reason is that we need multiple distributed solutions in multiple scenarios. What’s important is to identify those scenarios.
As a result, we need to look at the current digital transformation solution that is not scalable, that is not trustworthy, and that has a problem with an agreement between the parties.
We can see several government entities in Saudi Arabia if we examine multiple scenarios. In order to make those entities fit our criteria, we must examine their use cases. These criteria must be met, and the scenario must be matched with these criteria.
Impact of Emerging Technologies on the Kingdom’s Economic Transformation
As the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia deploys emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, Big Data, Robotics, Machine Learning, and 5G across the public and private sectors, it will become a global leader in the digital economy.
- Blockchain
Saudi Arabia will be one of the first countries to experiment with blockchain technology and international firms wishing to test new digital solutions in a live environment will be able to deploy them there.
Projects:
- Fintech Saudi
Saudi Arabia’s Fintech Saudi was launched in April 2018 by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) in partnership with the Capital Market Authority to facilitate the development of fintech businesses in Saudi Arabia.
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Saudi Arabia is using artificial intelligence(AI) to improve its economic and social development. The Kingdom has established strong institutions and adopted a data-based strategy to enhance its economy.
Projects:
- Driving AI entities
The National Center for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) leads artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives in various sectors of the economy and works to unite efforts among them all. This organization also supports applications and ecosystems related to AI.
3. Big data
The Smart Government Strategy (2020–2024) calls for the increased use of Big Data and analytics as one of its technology drivers. It recognizes the potential of Big Data, Machine Learning, and Predictive Analytics to analyze data and predict patterns of noncompliance in any focused area.
Projects:
- Estishraf
The Estishraf division of the National Information Center employs advanced analytics and artificial intelligence technology to unlock the powers of data science, provide valuable business insights, and create domain-specific stories.
4. 5G technology
- National Spectrum Strategy 2025
The policy aims to enable the deployment of private 5G networks and spur industry verticals by giving timely and sufficient spectrum access to operators in a way that will allow them to meet the quality of service objectives in terms of mobile services’ performance, price, and coverage.
Investing in Digital Transformation
The Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity has announced plans to host a conference in Riyadh, the Kingdom’s capital. According to the chairman of the conference, Faisal bin Saud Al-Khamisi, the event will attract international investments into Saudi Arabia and accelerate the digital transformation of the Kingdom by developing and adopting the latest technologies and communications solutions. A recent IDC report found that by 2023, digital transformation investment will account for 50 percent of government and enterprise ICT investment.
Saudi Arabia’s IT market has attracted more than $2.13 billion in foreign investment. Fintech investments grew from around $144 million in 2020 to almost $400 million in 2021, a substantial increase.
A Futuristic Approach
Many government and public sector organizations in the Kingdom are adopting innovative solutions as emerging technologies develop. In the Digital Competitiveness 2021 Report, the Saudi Kingdom was named the Top Digital Riser among G20 nations.
A recent YouGov survey found that the pandemic accelerated digital transformation by years, and there is no going back. According to the YouGov survey, AI and machine learning (77 percent), IoT (65 percent), cloud (51 percent), predictive analytics (38 percent), robotic process automation (36 percent), and blockchain (35 percent) are among the top three emerging technologies that organizations will prioritize in 2022.
If you’ve any queries regarding the enterprise blockchain project, visit Gyan Consulting today!
