Saudi MCIT and TONOMUS Announce I.D.E.A. Initiative

The Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and TONOMUS announced The Immersive Digital Environments and Assets (I.D.E.A.) Initiative. (SPA)
The Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and TONOMUS announced The Immersive Digital Environments and Assets (I.D.E.A.) Initiative. (SPA)
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Saudi MCIT and TONOMUS Announce I.D.E.A. Initiative

The Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and TONOMUS announced The Immersive Digital Environments and Assets (I.D.E.A.) Initiative. (SPA)
The Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and TONOMUS announced The Immersive Digital Environments and Assets (I.D.E.A.) Initiative. (SPA)

The Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and TONOMUS, the NEOM-born cognitive technology company, announced The Immersive Digital Environments and Assets (I.D.E.A.) Initiative.
The initiative, originally showcased during a keynote presentation at LEAP 2024, is envisioned to propel the Saudi immersive technology sector among the leading nations and fuel the Kingdom’s digital economy ambitions as part of economic diversification, realizing Saudi Arabia’s vision 2030, the Saudi Press Agency said.
Through the initiative, MCIT, TONOMUS, and partners will work closely to activate a national partner network to engage policymakers, researchers, technology providers, and end users in the participatory design of ecosystem interventions.
The initiative will create a unified strategic plan and activation roadmap across public- and private-sector partners to jumpstart immersive tech economy development as well as to develop a comprehensive solution blueprint for national immersive tech developments and establish standards to unite a diverse array of technology stakeholders.
MCIT and TONOMUS have already onboarded more than 15 potential partners across Saudi Arabia’s tech landscape and have issued a call to interested organizations to engage.
I.D.E.A. spans immersive experiences, virtual collaboration spaces, industrial digital twin and metaverse applications enabled by the convergence of several emerging technologies, including mixed reality, artificial intelligence (AI), three-dimensional (3D) modeling, and spatial computing, among others.
“The launch of this initiative is a testament to The Kingdom’s ambition to harness technology in building a thriving digital society and economy,” said MCIT Undersecretary for Technology Mohammed Alrobayan.
“For MCIT, this initiative is directly aligned with our objectives of growing the technology sector and supporting localized technology development. The involvement of TONOMUS and our plan for this partner network reinforces MCIT’s support for collaboration across the public and private sectors. We want to be at the forefront of immersive technology and accelerate a new wave of digital transformation”, he added.
“At the core,” said TONOMUS chief commercial officer Yousef Khalili,” this initiative is an effort to develop a local immersive tech ecosystem by driving technology adoption and supporting next-generation tech solutions. This partnership has been more than a year in the making and is based on a shared vision at the intersection of MCIT’s goal to unlock more value for the Kingdom through technology, and TONOMUS’ ambition to be a home-grown cognitive technology champion. TONOMUS is committed to developing innovative, next-generation technology solutions to propel Saudi organizations into the future”.



Microsoft Lays Out Data Protection Plans for European Cloud Customers

Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella is pictured onstage during the Microsoft Build conference opening keynote in Seattle, Washington on May 19, 2025. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP)
Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella is pictured onstage during the Microsoft Build conference opening keynote in Seattle, Washington on May 19, 2025. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP)
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Microsoft Lays Out Data Protection Plans for European Cloud Customers

Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella is pictured onstage during the Microsoft Build conference opening keynote in Seattle, Washington on May 19, 2025. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP)
Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella is pictured onstage during the Microsoft Build conference opening keynote in Seattle, Washington on May 19, 2025. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP)

Microsoft on Monday said data stored by its European cloud customers would stay in Europe, under European Law, with operations controlled by its local personnel, and under full control of customers.

European companies and governments have been increasingly worrying about their data being moved outside the continent into the hands of other countries such as the US, pushing the American companies such as Microsoft to announce safeguards.

Microsoft in April laid out plans to protect user data as it expands its cloud and AI infrastructure in Europe, including respecting European laws seeking to rein in the power of large technology companies.

On Monday, the company said all remote access by Microsoft engineers to the systems that store and process European data would be approved and monitored by European resident personnel in real-time.

Microsoft said its sovereign private cloud is in preview mode currently and will be generally available later this year.