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Saudi Arabia Launches 4th Industrial Revolution Center in Partnership with WEF

Saudi Arabia inaugurated the 4th Industrial Revolution Center in partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Saudi Arabia inaugurated the 4th Industrial Revolution Center in partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF).
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Saudi Arabia Launches 4th Industrial Revolution Center in Partnership with WEF

Saudi Arabia inaugurated the 4th Industrial Revolution Center in partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Saudi Arabia inaugurated the 4th Industrial Revolution Center in partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Saudi Arabia inaugurated on Wednesday the 4th Industrial Revolution Center in partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Chairman of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) Abdullah al-Sawahah announced the new center on the sidelines of the first Saudi Forum for the 4th Industrial Revolution.

The inaugural session was attended by WEF founder and Executive Chairman Professor Klaus Schwab, several ministers and senior officials and prominent Saudi and international speakers.

The forum is an extension of the support for development and innovation in Saudi Arabia by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.

Al-Sawahah said the forum offers an opportunity to combine talent and technology to present organizations that stimulate innovation.

He highlighted the importance of meeting thinkers and actors, such as representatives of governments, non-governmental institutions, and business leaders, in supporting this initiative.

Schwab congratulated the Kingdom for inaugurating the 4th Industrial Revolution Center that aims to harness new technologies with the best principles of flexible governance, which need government, business and civil society to make technology a force for good and ensure that the society benefits from it.

KACST President Dr. Munir bin Mahmoud El-Desouki said: “Our country needs cooperation and coordination of efforts in the public, private and non-profit sectors and open channels of dialogue to raise awareness about the Fourth Industrial Revolution and identify potential risks.”

“The Kingdom has a solid economic base to build on, through recent reforms to the governance model and the creation of new entities, such as the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority, the Cybersecurity Authority, the Digital Government Authority, and the Research, Development, and Innovation Development Authority,” he added.

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Trump’s Trade War Is ‘Wake-up Call’ for Europe, Lagarde Says 

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde looks on as she speaks to the media following the Governing Council's monthly monetary policy meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. (Reuters)
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde looks on as she speaks to the media following the Governing Council's monthly monetary policy meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. (Reuters)
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Trump’s Trade War Is ‘Wake-up Call’ for Europe, Lagarde Says 

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde looks on as she speaks to the media following the Governing Council's monthly monetary policy meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. (Reuters)
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde looks on as she speaks to the media following the Governing Council's monthly monetary policy meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. (Reuters)

A full-scale global trade war would hurt the United States in particular and could re-energize Europe's push towards unity, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Friday.

The US has imposed a raft of tariffs on friends and foes alike and threatened even more measures, prompting retaliation from most and raising concern that global growth could take a major hit.

"If we were to go to a real trade war, where trade would be dampened significantly, that would have severe consequences," Lagarde told BBC's HARDTalk program. "It would have severe consequences for growth around the world and for prices around the world, but particularly in the United States."

However, these tensions could also have the positive side effect of giving European unity another push, Lagarde argued.

"You know what it's doing at the moment? Stirring European energy. It's a big wake-up call for Europe. Maybe this is a European moment, yet again," she said.

The European Commission and Germany, the bloc's biggest economy, have already announced increased spending on defense and infrastructure, ending years of reluctance to spend, Lagarde argued.

This "collective waking up" also appears to include the UK, which left the European Union, as it's taking part in Europe's security effort, Lagarde argued.

Many of the EU's large scale efforts to deepen unity have been stalled for the better part of the last decade and former ECB chief Mario Draghi delivered a scathing report on the European project last year.

Leaders, however, have taken few if any steps to implement Draghi's reform proposals, even as the bloc is barely growing now and Germany suffered two straight years to economic contraction.