Saudi Arabia has announced the biggest technological launch of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa by introducing 22 tech and digital initiatives worth over SAR 4 billion ($1.06 billion).
The Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al Sawaha unveiled three major national programs that will leverage the Kingdom’s leading position in the field of information technology.
It is noteworthy that the announcement was made at an event called Launch held on Wednesday in Riyadh.
Launch was hosted by the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP), as well as the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA).
Event organizers unveiled three major initiatives (Tuwaiq, Hemmah, Qemmah), which aim, as a whole, to raise the digital capabilities of female and male youths in the fields of programming, enhance trust between technological companies and funding agencies and encourage innovation and creativity through central gatherings and platforms.
Hemmah will receive SAR 2.5 billion ($666 million) to boost the technology market through 20 products to support entrepreneurs in early and advanced stages.
Qemmah is set to be the largest of its kind in stimulating leadership through activities.
Meanwhile, Tuwaiq will galvanize enthusiasm, energize national talents, and train and qualify prospects.
Also, Al Sawaha unveiled the first Saudi-made smart chip to be used in military, civil, and commercial applications.
Al Sawaha explained that these smart chips have a processing power that is more than 60,000 times that is used in the human journey to the moon, and in smartphones and what giant companies, such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, Sixo, Oracle and Alibaba use, which represent 60% of the power.
These initiatives will boost Saudi Arabia's chances at achieving its aim to have at least one programmer out of every 100 citizens by 2030.