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Saudi Arabia Launches Innovation Award for Military Industries

Saudi Arabia launched an award to encourage innovation in the military industries. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia launched an award to encourage innovation in the military industries. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Launches Innovation Award for Military Industries

Saudi Arabia launched an award to encourage innovation in the military industries. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia launched an award to encourage innovation in the military industries. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia has launched an award to encourage innovation in the military industries, support a promising national industrial stage, create innovative solutions to address the sector's challenges, increase spending efficiency, and improve the level of services and infrastructure.

The General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) launched the Innovation Award in the Military Industries to inspire and encourage innovators to present innovative solutions and address the technical challenges faced by the sector.

GAMI Governor Ahmed al-Ohali said the award allows innovators to deliver qualitative and innovative solutions.

Knowledge impact

GAMI said the award holds a significant knowledge impact through raising awareness about the importance of innovation in the military industries sector and holds economic impact by reducing costs in addressing technical issues with innovative ideas and solutions.

The award also positively affects services and infrastructure, improving the services provided and enhancing infrastructure capabilities with innovative ideas and solutions.

Power of innovation

Several awards for innovation and superior solutions have been launched in various sectors, the most recent of which was an award for innovation in e-learning and training.

The award for military industries will be fundamental in promoting a culture of innovation and supporting talented people to contribute to the development of military industries.

Saudi Arabia aims to increase the level of employing innovative trends in several sectors to promote the efficiency of services and reduce unnecessary spending.

President of the Global Innovation Institute, KSA Chapter Abdulwahed al-Ghanem said Saudi Arabia will continue relying on research, development and innovation.

Ghanem noted that Riyadh will increase the momentum with the launch of the Supreme Committee for Research, Development, and Innovation, chaired by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

Saudi Arabia jumped 15 ranks in the Global Innovation Index for 2022, issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), less than a year after announcing the national aspirations and priorities for research, development, and innovation (RDI).

The Kingdom has also become one of the fastest transforming countries in the world, thanks to its drive to diversify its economy and enter new and promising sectors, according to a report published by Forbes.

The report indicated that Saudi Arabia boosted its efforts with research and innovation in 2022 by raising the number of patents to 963.

Ghanem said Saudi Arabia is in its golden stage of innovation, predicting a prosperous future for the Kingdom that will lead the next wave in research and innovation in the Arab world and Middle East.

SR500 Mn to Support Military Innovation

The Innovation Award in the Military Industries allows innovators to provide qualitative solutions that address some military technical challenges in partnership between the Saudi authorities concerned with supporting the innovation and the army industrialization sectors.

The Saudi partners included the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monsha'at), the Research Development and Innovation Authority, the General Authority for Defense Development (GADD), and the Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI).

Worth SR500 million, the award will be handed out yearly to support the innovations of talented citizens and residents in developing military industries. Submissions be assessed by a committee of specialists in the public and private sectors in several scientific fields.

The submission extends for two and a half months, and the committee will then begin receiving innovative contributions before announcing the winners during Saudi Arabia's World Defense Show in February.

The integration of innovation within military industries, the involvement of Saudi minds in the future of the precision industry, and the provision of diversified solutions will provide a unique opportunity for local and international manufacturers to meet Saudi talents.

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Business

Saudi Arabia Enacts Reforms to Boost Business Climate, Investment Appeal

Riyadh (SPA)
Riyadh (SPA)
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Saudi Arabia Enacts Reforms to Boost Business Climate, Investment Appeal

Riyadh (SPA)
Riyadh (SPA)

Saudi Arabia will enforce two major regulatory frameworks, the Law of Commercial Register and Law of Trade Names, starting Thursday, marking a significant overhaul of its business registration process.

The reforms are part of the kingdom’s ongoing efforts to modernize its regulatory environment, create a more business-friendly ecosystem, and strengthen its position as a global investment hub in line with Vision 2030.

Approved by the Saudi government on Sept. 17, the new laws represent a major regulatory shift aimed at empowering investors, facilitating business growth, and unlocking investment opportunities nationwide.

They form part of a broader, ongoing regulatory transformation designed to enhance transparency, improve the business climate, and align with the kingdom’s economic and technological advancements.

Commerce Minister Majid Al-Kassabi said the Cabinet’s approval of the laws aims to streamline business operations and ease the burden on enterprises by consolidating their registration into a single nationwide record.

The new framework also standardizes the reservation and registration of trade names to protect and enhance their value, aligning with Saudi Arabia’s economic and technological advancements under Vision 2030.

Saudi Arabia ranks 62nd out of 190 economies in the World Bank's latest annual Ease of Doing Business index.

Ministry of Commerce official spokesperson Abdulrahman Al-Hussein noted that the new commercial register law introduces major changes.

Among the key changes are the elimination of subsidiary registers, with a single commercial register now being sufficient. Additionally, the law removes the requirement to specify the city of registration, allowing one commercial registration to apply across all regions of the Kingdom.

The new law also obligated commercial establishments in Saudi Arabia to open bank accounts linked to the establishment in order to enhance its reliability and ensure the integrity of its transactions.

In addition, the law cancels the expiration date for the commercial register, requiring only an annual confirmation of the data, the spokesman stated.

Under the law, the commercial registration number will serve as the establishment’s unified number, starting with (7).

The ministry will grant existing subsidiary registers a five-year grace period to rectify their status in accordance with the new regulations.

Meanwhile, the new Law of Trade Names in Saudi Arabia, which consists of 23 articles, aims to regulate the procedures for reserving and recording names in the commercial register, maximizing their value, and protecting them and their rights.

The law allows a trade name to be reserved before it is recorded for a specific period that can be extended. It also sets the requirements that must be met by trade names to be registered or reserved, and the criteria for prohibited names.

Al-Hussein explained that the new regulations also allow for the reservation and registration of trade names in English, including letters or numbers.

This marks a departure from the previous law, which permitted only Arabic names without foreign characters or numbers.

The new law will enable the management of trade names independently from the establishment, allowing for the transfer of their ownership while prohibiting the registration of identical or similar names for different establishments in Saudi Arabia, even if their activities differ.

Al-Hussein noted that the law also includes regulations for reserving family names as trade names and establishes criteria for prohibited or misleading names.