Saudi Universities Top List of Best Innovative Projects at Industrial Innovation Hackathon

The Industrial Innovation Hackathon concluded on Saturday. (OXAGON)
The Industrial Innovation Hackathon concluded on Saturday. (OXAGON)
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Saudi Universities Top List of Best Innovative Projects at Industrial Innovation Hackathon

The Industrial Innovation Hackathon concluded on Saturday. (OXAGON)
The Industrial Innovation Hackathon concluded on Saturday. (OXAGON)

The Industrial Innovation Hackathon, which was organized by the Saudi Ministry of Education in cooperation with NEOM's Industrial City OXAGON concluded on Saturday.

The event, which kicked off on Thursday, witnessed the participation of 30 Saudi universities and the public and private sectors. They came together to work on more than 65 projects.

Teams competed within the fields of Technology in serving mankind, water sustainability, electric fuel, and green hydrogen, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

The Saudi universities were the top winners.

The top three projects were: SAvetro, 3D & IOT ICS, and BlindLine projects.

The SAvetro project aims to provide solutions for transport for the future. It was developed by a manufacturing team from the King Abdulaziz University.

The 3D & IOT ICS project is a program that seeks to organize construction projects through the Internet of Things and 3D modeling through drones. It was presented by a team from the Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University.

The BlindLine project is a smart device to support learning the Brail language. It was submitted by a team from the Prince Mohammed bin Fahd University.

The three winning teams will receive support from the OXAGON accelerator for a chance to turn their ideas into projects on the ground.



Oracle to Invest $6.5 Bn in Malaysian Cloud Services Region

(FILES) US multinational computer technology company Oracle's logo is pictured at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on February 27, 2024. (Photo by PAU BARRENA / AFP)
(FILES) US multinational computer technology company Oracle's logo is pictured at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on February 27, 2024. (Photo by PAU BARRENA / AFP)
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Oracle to Invest $6.5 Bn in Malaysian Cloud Services Region

(FILES) US multinational computer technology company Oracle's logo is pictured at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on February 27, 2024. (Photo by PAU BARRENA / AFP)
(FILES) US multinational computer technology company Oracle's logo is pictured at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on February 27, 2024. (Photo by PAU BARRENA / AFP)

Tech giant Oracle on Wednesday said it plans to invest more than $6.5 billion on cloud services data centers in Malaysia, joining a list of US titans rushing to build up their AI infrastructure in Southeast Asia.

The firm said the cloud region would help organizations in the country modernize their applications, migrate their workload to the cloud and innovate with data, analytics and artificial intelligence.

Oracle is working to expand its cloud infrastructure business globally. The company recently projected it will surpass $100 billion in revenue in fiscal 2029, driven by increasing demand for cloud services.

Malaysia's new cloud region will be the firm's third in Southeast Asia, following two facilities in neighboring Singapore.

"Malaysia offers unique growth opportunities for organizations looking to accelerate their expansion with the latest digital technologies," Garrett Ilg, Oracle's executive vice president for Japan and Asia Pacific, said in a statement.

"Our multi-billion-dollar investment affirms our commitment to Malaysia as a regional gateway for cloud infrastructure as well as a comprehensive suite of software as a service applications deployed within Malaysia."

The statement also quoted Malaysia's Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz as welcoming the investment, saying it would help firms with innovative and cutting-edge AI and cloud technologies to boost their global competitiveness.

"Oracle's decision to establish a public cloud region in Malaysia underscores Malaysia's infrastructure readiness, and its growing position as a premier Southeast Asian destination for digital investments," he added.

Oracle is the latest global tech giant to announce major digital investments in Southeast Asia. Google-parent Alphabet said in May it would invest $2 billion to house the firm's first data center in Malaysia.

Google on Monday said it plans to invest $1 billion to build digital infrastructure in Thailand, including a new data center.

Amazon and Microsoft have also announced investments worth billions of dollars in the region as demand for AI hots up.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Tuesday announced that the country plans to develop a National Cloud Policy.