Technology

Saudi Arabia to host global tech summit

summit

A logo of 5G is seen at the stand of Qualcomm during the China Mobile Global Partners Conference 2017 in Guangzhou city. FILE PHOTO

Saudi Arabia will host a three-day global technology summit early next year aimed at addressing pressing hurdles that the world faces.

The country’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in collaboration with select private sector leaders has announced that the event will take place between February 1 to February 3, 2022, in Riyadh.

Dubbed LEAP 2022, the event is expected to bring together founders, chief executives, pioneers and disruptors with business and government leaders, entrepreneurs and investors to experience and learn about the technologies of the future.

The summit, organisers told Business Daily, will showcase inspiring technologies across health, finance, energy, education, digital entertainment, transport, smart cities and more “to curb the unique and specific challenges across the world.

“Technology and innovation have enormous potential to transform economies and societies. We live in a time where you either leap or be left behind. We are proud to host LEAP to help the region lead and leapfrog with technology and innovation,” said Eng Abdullah Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Saudi Arabia.

With Africa gradually contributing to the adoption of frontier technologies, connectivity remains crucial to empower business owners, learning, education, innovations in industries, increased opportunities for entrepreneurship and state-of-the-art hybrid technologies.

While higher productivity, lower costs, and exportability are attracting industries such as agriculture, information technology, tourism, and renewable energy to Africa, it has become even more apparent just how critical a communication and technology infrastructure is to optimise industrial processes as Africans continue to rely on tech innovations to tackle day to day challenges and needs.

The event will welcome speakers from all around the world, including CEOs from Kaspersky, VMware; Techstars; Hyundai Motor Group; Magic Leap; World Wide Web and Estonia.

They will be joined by experts from the region, including engineers and CEOs from STC; Mobily; CIO MENAT region for HSBC and Sky Kurtz, and founders of Pure Harvest.

LEAP 2022 will also feature inspirational stories from personalities like Steven Bartlett, renowned entrepreneur, and BBC’s youngest ever Dragon, as well as football legends Roberto Carlos and Luis Figo.

As global technology giants gear up to participate in one of the region’s most anticipated events, over 700 emerging technology start-ups are expected to showcase their solutions to the world.

Organised and produced by Informa Markets, LEAP 2022 is sponsored by leading local and international companies including, Microsoft, CISCO, KPMG, SoftwareAG, Nutanix, STC, Zain, Mobily and Ericsson, who will act together as strategic partners to bring this event to life.

“Informa are delighted to have launched LEAP in Saudi Arabia. It is clear to us that with the enormous technology projects happening in the country, there is no hub in the world better placed to host such an amazing event,” said Mike Champion, regional executive vice president of Informa Markets.

“In its first year, LEAP will be the largest debut technology event in history, and there can be no better evidence than that to prove Saudi Arabia is a future global technology hub.”

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