Inside Saudi Arabia’s $20 billion bet on longevity biotechnology

Inside Saudi Arabia’s $20 billion bet on longevity biotechnology

From 0 to 1 – Saudi Arabia’s Technology Dream

The author visited Saudi Arabia (KSA) in July, 2022 and it broke all stereotypes. There is no religious police on the streets, high-tech construction all around, women with PhDs in top leadership roles, and Uber drivers listening to HRH MBS speeches promoting tolerance, innovation, and a vision of a technology-augmented clean energy future. Recently, CNN did a great job describing the transformation of Saudi Arabia. Of course, this rapid transformation from 0 to 1 was not easy for MBS and was met with substantial resistance from inside and outside the country and required gargantuan efforts. But it is happening and now he has even more ambitious plans that, if properly executed, will benefit everyone on the planet. He decided to focus on extending healthy longevity in KSA.

Longevity as a National Priority

Increasing productive longevity may be the most altruistic cause anyone can pursue in order to generate the most number of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY), a central metric in healthcare economics, during their lifetime. Imagine that an average surgeon performs around 400 surgeries per year. Working for 30 years, he or she generates on average two quality-adjusted life years per patient. That