Page 66 - SAMENA Trends - November-December 2022

ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS

technologies such as Robotics, 3D
printing, IoT and blockchain in the
kingdom. As these projects are being
developed, emerging technology will
continue to grow in the Kingdom.
• Thriving private sector and enhanced
ease of doing business and regulations:
With recent jump of 30 places in Ease
of Doing Business ranking, there are a
high number of new businesses and
companies registering and operating
from within the Kingdom. It is estimated
that 1,600+ companies operate in the
IT and ET sector alone, with market
growth sentiment being at all-time highs.
Ministries and Regulatory entities such
as the Ministry of Communications
Figure 2: % share of IT and ET market by GCC countries, 2021 and Information Technology and
Communication, Space and Technology
of platform business models and higher • National push towards Digital Commission have been supporting the
adoption of emerging technologies such as Transformation: Digital transformation tech companies’ growth in the private
AI and IoT. has been accelerating across sector as well through dedicated
government and private sector in the initiatives and programs – ranging from
Saudi Arabia is one of the leading IT and ET Kingdom. This continued post Covid, grants, investment and funding support
market among GCC countries. In the case fueled by “work-from-home” trend from to capability development.
of Saudi Arabia, four main factors have citizens / residents and online service
significantly influenced and pragmatically delivery and digital business models. Success achieved in Saudi Arabia offer
driven digital transformation and growth KSA government successfully unlocked tremendous insights into how other
in the market. These include: government the opportunity by building applications countries within the SA-ME-NA region and
focus on economic diversification, national such as Tawakkalna which clocked policymakers can plan key strategic actions
push towards digital transformation, 15M+ downloads, and peaked post to realize the full potential of the IT and ET
Increasing adoption of emerging Covid. Apart from the user facing digital market, considering governments play a
technologies and ease-of-doing business transformations, all the public sector key role in enabling and supporting vital
for the private sector. entities are transforming internally growth of various sectors now increasingly
as well, adopting digital solutions driven by digital technologies.
• Government focus to boost non-oil and moving away from paper-based
economy: Vision 2030 has been defined operations with use of modern ERP and In the leading digital nations, including
with key focus on boosting non-oil alike systems. Saudi Arabia, Kearney observes nations
economy. The aim is to reinforce and • Increasing adoption of emerging have taken an active role across a range
diversify the capabilities of the economy, technologies: Several solutions in the of programs and initiatives to support the
turning KSA’s key strengths into enabling Kingdom are increasingly applying technology sector. In doing so, they have
tools for a fully diversified economy. sophisticated technologies such as Big materialized a thriving national technology
Technology is one of the sectors which data and AI. In addition, mega projects market. We attribute such growth to two
contributes majorly to growth of oil and such as the Red Sea project and NEOM main set of internal and external elements:
non-oil sectors. have spurred the demand for emerging
1. Inward looking elements:
Success achieved in Saudi Arabia offer tremendous • Specialized capability building:
Identifying key tech segments in a country
insights into how other countries within the SA-ME-NA and supporting national tech champions
region and policymakers can plan key strategic actions to to excel in those segments. E.g.,
realize the full potential of the IT and ET market, considering Malaysia’s leadership in semiconductor
manufacturing
governments play a key role in enabling and supporting • G2B (Govt to Business programs):
vital growth of various sectors now increasingly driven by Government can provide several areas of
support to tech businesses, ranging from
digital technologies. funding to talent development. E.g., Start-
up India initiative provides seed funding,

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