The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified the need for data and evidence-based policymaking supported by technology and innovative solutions, according to Saudi Arabia's economy and planning minister.
Fourth Industrial Revolution technology will result in a more resilient and robust growth path for countries in the future and can help them to manage crises such as the pandemic better, Faisal Alibrahim said in his opening remarks on the second day of the C4IR event in Riyadh.
The event, organised by the kingdom's Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and managed by the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, discussed the impact of emerging technology on the future of transport and finance, the resilience of healthcare systems, future smart cities, clean energy transitions and initiatives to restore ecosystems.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is expected to generate non-oil revenue worth 1 trillion Saudi riyals ($266.66bn), according to Abdullah Alswaha, the kingdom's Minister of Communications.
The use of advanced technology has already affected sectors such as energy, education and health care in the kingdom, experts and policymakers said during the forum.
Saudi Arabia, which is currently ranked fourth in the world in terms of 5G connectivity, managed to efficiently educate more than six million students when the pandemic fuelled a shift to remote learning, said Mr Alibrahim.
The country now has its work cut out for it “to move up the Global Innovation Index rankings, where we plan to be among the leading pack of our G20 peers”, he said.
In the energy sector, Saudi Arabia has been able to improve efficiency through the use of frontier technology and artificial intelligence, the kingdom's energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said.
"Our vision is to transform the energy sector through the application of data and technology … The Artificial Intelligence Centre is our first supportive centre, where the Internet of Things has contributed to monitoring oil transportation and leaks, as well as monitoring oil installations," he said.
Ahmad Alzahrani, Saudi Arabia's Assistant Minister of Energy, said greater collaboration between the private and the public sector has helped the country achieve its energy efficiency.
“Building the ecosystem with stakeholders, including government, research, technological providers, helped us work together," he said.
Saudi Arabia, one of the world's biggest oil exporters, has taken various steps to achieve energy efficiency. It set up the National Energy Services Company, better known as Tarshid, in 2017 to work on its energy-efficiency goals in partnership with the Ministry of Energy.
The kingdom has also effectively used technology to achieve cost savings within the sector.
Earlier this year, state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco unveiled a new supercomputer called Dammam 7, which is among the world’s top 10 most powerful machines.
With 55.4 petaflops of peak computing power, the device is expected to help Aramco process and image the world’s largest geophysical data sets, significantly helping the company in its exploration activities.
Ahmad Al-Sa’adi, senior vice president at Aramco, said the oil company has been “transforming itself for years”, but digitisation and Fourth Industrial Revolution technology are helping the kingdom achieve its clean energy goals.
"We built over our success over the years. We carefully selected world-renowned benchmarking groups where we benchmark our quadrants,” Mr Al-Sa’adi said.
Aramco has also developed a cloud strategy to run its own applications.
“We have partnered with Google and are now working with [Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority] for cloud strategy. As for skills, we are working with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, to develop our human resources,” he said.
Mohammed Abunayyan, chairman of Acwa Power, said the company is more market driven, with a focus making its service cheaper, more sustainable and reliable for customers. He spoke about the benefits of digitisation and having smart systems for water desalination plants.
“We are proud to be partners with Aramco and the Public Investment Fund. The [Fourth Industrial Revolution] has helped to make the system smarter, more efficient.” he said. “What we have witnessed in the past 24 months is a role model.”
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
'Nightmare Alley'
Director:Guillermo del Toro
Stars:Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara
Rating: 3/5
What is Folia?
Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal's new plant-based menu will launch at Four Seasons hotels in Dubai this November. A desire to cater to people looking for clean, healthy meals beyond green salad is what inspired Prince Khaled and American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney to create Folia. The word means "from the leaves" in Latin, and the exclusive menu offers fine plant-based cuisine across Four Seasons properties in Los Angeles, Bahrain and, soon, Dubai.
Kenney specialises in vegan cuisine and is the founder of Plant Food Wine and 20 other restaurants worldwide. "I’ve always appreciated Matthew’s work," says the Saudi royal. "He has a singular culinary talent and his approach to plant-based dining is prescient and unrivalled. I was a fan of his long before we established our professional relationship."
Folia first launched at The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in July 2018. It is available at the poolside Cabana Restaurant and for in-room dining across the property, as well as in its private event space. The food is vibrant and colourful, full of fresh dishes such as the hearts of palm ceviche with California fruit, vegetables and edible flowers; green hearb tacos filled with roasted squash and king oyster barbacoa; and a savoury coconut cream pie with macadamia crust.
In March 2019, the Folia menu reached Gulf shores, as it was introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, where it is served at the Bay View Lounge. Next, on Tuesday, November 1 – also known as World Vegan Day – it will come to the UAE, to the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and the Four Seasons DIFC, both properties Prince Khaled has spent "considerable time at and love".
There are also plans to take Folia to several more locations throughout the Middle East and Europe.
While health-conscious diners will be attracted to the concept, Prince Khaled is careful to stress Folia is "not meant for a specific subset of customers. It is meant for everyone who wants a culinary experience without the negative impact that eating out so often comes with."
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Haemoglobin disorders explained
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
