The King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), the Saudi Research, Development and Innovation Development Authority, and Microsoft Corporation have announced the formation of the Sustainability Council to respond to the transformations of sustainable economies.
Dr. Munir El-Desouki, the president of KACST, said that the establishment of the council came in line with the Saudi Arabia Green initiative and the Green Middle East to reach zero neutrality by 2060 and to lead a new wave of green Saudi investments of a sustainable economic nature.
Al-Desouki stressed that the new council would seek to promote innovation and build partnerships by motivating stakeholders to ensure the achievement of the Kingdom’s goals and aspirations at the level of the global competitiveness map.
Eng. Thamer Alharbi, the head of Microsoft Arabia, said the council would help organizations transform their business, increase productivity, drive innovation, and manage more sustainable operations, by providing roundtable discussions for leaders, and stimulating scientific research.
The Sustainability Council, which was announced on the sidelines of the LEAP 2023 conference, is an advisory platform that brings together key stakeholders from industry, academia, government agencies and international experts to facilitate regular meetings and knowledge exchange between leaders.
The LEAP 2023 conference kicked off in Riyadh on Monday, in the presence of more than 700 experts, scientists and specialized companies from around the world, who are discussing the latest developments in virtual reality, creative economy, edutech, retail, Fourth Industrial Revolution, future energy, smart cities, fintech, and healthtech.
Sibi Gurnani, CEO of Tech Mahindra - a world leader in information technology solutions – stressed that Saudi Arabia had promising technical investments in a number of fields, especially energy and environment.
In remarks during a session on the second day of LEAP 2023, Gurnani said that Prince Mohammed bin Salman had a clear plan to face challenges and build broad partnerships in the field of automation, innovations and human engineering.
For his part, CEO of Natanix Rajeev Ramaswamy said that Saudi Arabia launched an inspiring and bold vision that would lead to major social and economic transformations and employ technology to serve humanity.
Phalgun Kompalli, CEO of UpGrad, praised the Kingdom’s endeavor to adopt new technologies, pointing to the great opportunities available for investment in technology to cover the needs of industry, education, health, and other service and logistical sectors.
CEO of 2U Inc. Chip Paucek said that around a billion jobs would be available in the Arab Gulf region thanks to technology changes and the expansion of the uses of artificial intelligence.
He added that partnerships between the public and private sectors contributed to a greater chance of success in the fields of education and provided appropriate platforms to help people access advanced technology services and capabilities, and localize technology.
