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Thursday, October 30, 2025
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This page provides an overview on some of the emerging technologies and ideas available to government entities, as well as research in the development phase, in order to identify tools for potential use cases, accelerate the adoption of these technologies, and provide government entities with innovative future solutions in digital government.
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It is estimated that by 2025, global revenues from AI are expected to rise to $90 billion, growing on average by 45 percent each year. Beyond this, longer-term estimates project AI contributing to a 14 per cent growth of global GDP by 2030, ‘the equivalent of an additional $15.7 trillion’. The government of Saudi Arabia has realized that Artificial Intelligence represents a very significant commercial opportunity, and by pulling together trends and networks in this technology, Vision 2030 seeks to diversify the Saudi economy.
In 2019, the Kingdom established a government authority called the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA). It is recognized as the owner of the national data and AI agenda to help achieve Vision 2030’s goals and our Kingdom’s highest potential. One of the initiatives of the Saudi Data & AI Authority, the leader of many promising and distinguished programs and activities, SDAIA Academy aims to support and develop national competencies and prepare them for the labor market in cooperation with several local, regional and global leading entities in the fields of data and artificial intelligence.
The Kingdom has established several government authorities mandated to work on the national agenda for Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Specialized Strategies and regulations have been adopted for data and AI:
Several projects were planned and implemented in this regard, which include the following:
Key government ministries, including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Finance, generate immense open data and have begun to share extensive data sets on the Open Data portal – Such datasets provide the public with a wide variety of opportunities. By utilizing data analytics techniques, they can potentially boost local manufacturing, design better services for citizens, increase R&D capabilities, amongst other applications.
The Smart Government Strategy identifies the increased use of big data and analytics are one of the technology drivers. It recognizes the potential of Big Data, Machine Learning, & Predictive Analytics for decision-making and to predict potential non-compliance in any focused area (e.g., tax). Institutional Framework National Data Management Office (NDMO): National regulator of data in the Kingdom.
National Data Governance Interim Regulations: The regulations set the standards, rules and obligations related to data classification, data sharing, data privacy, freedom of information, and open data. Data Management and Personal Data Protection Standards: The standards are defined for 15 domains as per the Data Management and Personal Data Protection Framework with the intention to be adopted by all public entities within the Kingdom. In addition to Public Entities, the scope of the National Data Management and Personal Data Protection Standards also extends to business partners handling government data.
Saudi Arabia is among the first countries globally whose institutions started to experiment with the use of blockchain and allowed international firms wishing to test new digital solutions in a 'live' environment to deploy them in the KSA in the future.
SAMA Regulatory Sandbox: Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) has designed a Regulatory Sandbox that welcomes local as well as international firms wishing to test new digital solutions in a 'live' environment with a view to deploy them in KSA in the future. The objective is to understand and assess the impact of new technologies in the KSA's Financial Sector market and help transform the Saudi market into a smart financial center.
In compliance with the strategy of the Kingdom to move towards smart governance adopting high technology applications for the wellbeing citizens, digital transformation considers development and adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) applications and use cases a necessity to make the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a leading country in this field. In pursuit of these goals and others, public consultations and expert opinion have been explored leading to the development of a draft Regulatory Framework on Internet of Things (IoT), that includes with it the special conditions for class licenses and other needed technical specifications.
Global Worldwide IoT spending has been increasing year-over-year by at least $40 billion since 2018. In 2020, IoT spending reached $749 billion, and expected to grow to $1.1 trillion in 2023.Various industry segments are at the early stage of adopting IoT solutions driven by technological advancement as well as initiatives undertaken by government agencies, such as the Saudi National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP), which focuses on Industry 4.0, Smart City transformation driven by giga construction projects, and Smart Meter solutions being undertaken by utility service providers. Adoption of Industrial Use Cases (IUC) is expected to be the biggest IoT growth driver in the Kingdom over the next several years.
Based on the survey study, Saudi companies realize the business benefits of IoT solutions as well as the strategic impact on their revenue streams. By the end of 2022, 82% of medium and large organizations in the Kingdom are expected to adopt an IoT solution for their business. The top three drivers for adopting IoT solutions by businesses are; a) Improved production efficiency, b) Customer experience improvement, and c) Enhanced Security. Customer focus and cost efficiencies are among the key priorities driving IoT adoption in the Kingdom and early adopters are at different stages of IoT deployments. IoT deployments include more than thirty-two different use cases, which have been implemented by the companies included in the survey study.
Adopting IoT solutions by some of the enterprises in the Kingdom resulted in early success in sectors of education, energy, environmental management, health care, open data, smart cities, smart manufacturing, and is anticipated to reach its full potential over the coming years. Some of the major benefits that IoT adopting organizations have realized are: Enhanced Productivity, Safety and Security, Improved Asset Management, Real-Time Analytics, Cost Optimization, and Enhanced Customer Service.
Several large diversification projects are rapidly catalyzing the uptake of IoT solutions and services. Key projects include:
Leading IoT use cases can be found in manufacturing, freight management, fleet monitoring, production asset management, and public safety and emergency response. These areas are expected to lead to IoT technology uptake in the KSA over the next five years.
A strategic pillar of the National Spectrum Strategy 2025 is Foster Commercial and Innovative Uses (Drive 5G+), stating that it'll "push 5G+ deployment to position Saudi Arabia among leading nations in unlocking innovative high-performance use cases and applications based on 5G. With a focus on giving timely and sufficient spectrum access to operators in a way that will allow them to meet the quality-of-service objectives in terms of mobile services' preseance, cost, and coverage, with the aim of deploying private 5G networks for industry verticals."
The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) adopted the 5G Spectrum Outlook for Commercial and Innovative Use to provide transparency and predictability for all spectrum users in the Kingdom, providing spectrum users certainty over the amount of spectrum available in different bands and the terms and regulations governing access and usage. The key regulatory changes that are proposed in the document are:
The Kingdom was ranked second among G20 countries in the allocation of frequency bands. This was due to the implementation of digital transformation by developing a National Frequency Plan (NFP), contributing to the achievement of the 4th position globally in terms of 5G deployment, increasing internet speed by more than 400%, which improved the quality and speed of mobile internet services in the Kingdom, and improving the quality of telecom services provided to citizens by telecommunication operators.
The growth of 5G mobile services in the country plays a crucial part in the KSA's plan to modernize and digitize its economy as part of Vision 2030. The disruptive capabilities of 5G pave the way for new innovative and disruptive applications that the current LTE technology cannot support.
The CST announced that Saudi Arabia would be the first country in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East to make the full 6 GHz frequency band available for WiFi use.
That means there are now 150% more open airwaves that routers can use for the new generation of WiFi networks. By allocating 1,200 MHz of the radio spectrum for the WiFi6e, Saudi Arabia has now made 2,035 MHz of spectrum available for the new generation of WiFi and other license-exempt technologies - more than any country in the world.
In terms of internet speeds, Saudi Arabia retained its place as the 7th fastest country globally for mobile internet speeds, averaging 109.48 Mbps in Q4 2020, and 4th in the world for 5G internet speeds with an average of 264.7 Mbps.
The world's fastest 5G peak download speed of 862.6 Mbps was recorded by Saudi 5G users, surpassing South Korea in second place by 11%. In 2020, 5,358 new 5G towers were deployed across the country, bringing the total to 12,302 5G towers by the end of the year. This number is set to grow as the allocation of spectrum for commercial uses continues to increase, as does the demand for faster internet services.
The Kingdom was ranked first in download speed rates for 5G services and excelled in average 5G download rates with speeds of up to 377.2 Mbps, followed by South Korea, the leading country in 5G network coverage rate with speed of 336.1 Mbps.
WiFi 6e will also enable future network applications across a wide range of uses, including the Internet of Things, smart homes, and virtual reality applications. WiFi 6e will also increase the efficiency of wireless applications in the education, health, and entertainment industries by connecting WiFi networks with fiber optics to allow faster data transmission. WiFi 6e also paves the way for WiFi 7, the next generation of WiFi. For more information, please visit the CITC website.
Robotics & Automation are high on the Kingdom's Government agenda in line with the efforts, initiatives, regulations, and institutional framework for Artificial Intelligence, IoT, and Big Data. The Kingdom has already established dedicated institutions, such as the Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA), National Center for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI), and National Data Management Office (NDMO), as well as adopted a regulatory framework for the use of robotics and automation (National Data Governance Interim Regulations, Internet of Things (IoT) Regulatory Framework).
Several government entities have adopted ET as part of their digital transformation. Below is an overview of ET adoption cases across 7 different government entities.
Technology | Entity | Use Case |
| Blockchain | Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority | Experimenting with blockchain in container tracking |
| Artificial Intelligence | Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence | Tackling a global pandemic with contact-tracing |
| Advanced Analytics | Ministry of Health | Facing public health threats with prescriptive analytics |
| Artificial Intelligence | National Health Information Center | Patient readmission prediction |
| Artificial Intelligence | Education and Training Evaluation Commission | Monitoring remote tests |
| Artificial Intelligence | General Directorate of Passports | Automation of passenger entry and departure processes |
| IoT | Riyadh Municipality | Remote lighting control and monitoring system |
To discover the Guidelines for Emerging Technology Adoption, click here
In order to empower government resources to accelerate the adoption of new technologies and innovative solutions to shape the future of governance, the GovTech radar provides a glimpse into insights and research services that will be made available for government entities to help them conduct future scoping exercises and identify technologies for potential use cases and future solutions.
The present visualization tool contains 106 technologies assessed according to NASA’s Technology Readiness Level (TRL) to evaluate their technological development level. From 1 (the lowest level of technology maturation) to 9 (technology is already being fixed and incorporated into new systems), all technologies included in this project intend to serve as a benchmark for future versions of digitized governance.
All technologies were analyzed according to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to strengthen the relationship between technological developments and sustainable practices. Each technology added to the radar was tagged according to its taxonomy, from software, hardware, systems, and materials to business models and policies.
Ultimately, these technologies were clustered into seven affinity groups containing essays disclosing the most significant technological impacts produced in key public sectors, including Healthcare, Education & Training, Urban Mobility & Smart Cities, Travel, Tourism & Culture, Social Development & Justice, Energy & Natural Resources, and Trade, Finance & Economy.
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