NEOM Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nadhmi Al-Nasr, has said that NEOM’s industrial city (OXAGON) was designed to be effective in the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution by relying on the use of big data in a more efficient way to improve the performance of manufacturing operations at various stages.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Nasr clarified that OXAGON will be the gate to global trade markets for NEOM and Saudi Arabia. This is made possible by the floating industrial city’s strategic location on the Red Sea close to the Suez Canal, where around 13% of global trade passes.
Moreover, OXAGON enjoys an integrated system that combines its port and supply chains with modern technologies through a single digital platform. It is also connected to a global network.
“OXAGON is developing an integrated port and supply chain system connected to a global network that will feature one of the world’s most modern cargo transport facilities,” Al-Nasr told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“This will provide an enormous number of value-added services, in practice,” he affirmed.
Al-Nasr also indicated that OXAGON will demonstrate how industry and logistics, which operate with 100% clean energy, can reconfigure manufacturing processes using advanced technologies, optimized, innovative and clean investment for land and marine areas, protect nature, and thus provide exceptional life.
“OXAGON will redefine the concept and work of industrial cities by changing the stereotypical image of these cities and by creating an integrated sustainable environment in which people live near industrial complexes in perfect harmony with the preservation of natural resources,” said Al-Nasr.
When asked about the factors that make OXAGON unique on a global scale, Al-Nasr said that the industrial city is distinctive in so many ways that include its drive to boost economic growth and face climate change at the same time.
“We find that sustainability and the principles of circular economy are at the heart of the formation of the city,” said Al-Nasr, adding that “technology forms the backbone of OXAGON, which relies on a highly developed digital infrastructure.”
“The city will have the largest floating facility in the world, reinforcing its role in being an innovator in providing additional investment spaces instead of relying entirely on land,” noted Al-Nasr.
“OXAGON adopts a distinctive vision to build a circular economy supported by an industrial sector that keeps pace with the developments of the Fourth Industrial Revolution based on smart manufacturing,” he confirmed.
“OXAGON is working to be effective in the field of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, by relying on big data and using it in a more efficient way to improve the performance of manufacturing processes in its various stages,” added Al-Nasr.
“The city will provide an integrated ecosystem that brings together a port and supply chains powered by next-generation technologies on a single, globally connected digital platform,” he noted.
According to Al-Nasr, there are seven industrial sectors that will form the basis of industrial development at OXAGON.
These sectors include renewable energy, mobility solutions, innovation of water technologies, sustainable food production, health and well-being, technology and digital solutions, and modern construction.