Smart cities to drive diversification in Saudi Arabia

Smart cities to drive diversification in Saudi Arabia

Frost & Sullivan's recent analysis finds that the coming decade will see widespread uptake of smart city solutions, especially in medium-sized cities and cities in developing nations. The smart city market will grow over $2.46 trillion in 2025, presenting significant opportunities for solution providers operating within the smart city space.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman envisions creating the world's most liveable city that can attract the world's greatest minds and best talents by 2030. Saudi Arabia needs smart cities to serve as an economic engine for the Kingdom. Being primarily an oil-reliant economy today, the Kingdom is increasingly looking to diversify, and a smart city is a step in that direction. For instance, the Kingdom is looking at raising the share of non-oil exports in non-oil GDP from 16 to 50 percent by 2030. The Kingdom expects smart cities to add hundreds of thousands of jobs by 2030; smart cities are expected to drive diversification and will contribute significantly to the domestic GDP by 2030.