The growth in the technology sector in KSA may be epitomized by the development of NEOM, initially announced in 2017 as one of the world’s first smart cities. The USD $500 billion mega-city is intended to operate solely from renewable energy and will utilize cutting edge digital and other technologies.
Military technology is an area in which there has been a considerable push for localization, with the PIF-owned Saudi Arabian Military Industries company at the forefront of partnerships with military manufacturers to enter into joint ventures for local technology transfer.
There has similarly been a recent drive to push the regulatory regime to develop at the same rate. The Electronic Trade Law, originally published for consultation in 2014, was issued in July 2019. Laws that remain relevant to electronic transactions include the Electronic Transactions Law and the Anti-Cyber Crime Law, both issued in 2007, along with the regulatory framework for Cloud Computing, published in early 2018 by the Communications and Information Technology Commission (“CITC”), as well as further updates to cybersecurity rules and requirements.
