RIYADH — Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Al-Ibrahim said that there is a lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic that the use of solutions based on the Fourth Industrial Revolution revealed the reality of the widening gap between the leading economies and the rest of the world.

“Despite the significant progress made since the launch of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and during the pandemic, the catalyst for further economic growth could be seizing part of the opportunities that exceed $3 trillion over the next five years and their multiplier effects,” he said while addressing a session of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Forum in Riyadh on Thursday.

The minister stressed that the Kingdom still has a lot of work to do to raise its rank in the Global Innovation Index, and plans to be in the leading position among its counterparts in the G20. He explained that this leads to the factors that shape the future role of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Center, as the center enjoys the convergence of the growing role of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in providing solutions to global challenges with the momentum and potential of Saudi Arabia’s vision and its impact locally and globally. This is in addition to the Kingdom’s growing global leadership role, which is based on a solid legacy of work with global partners to overcome global challenges and its pioneering vision and massive transformation.

“The center should take advantage of these possibilities, to become a center for work on discovering, discussing and providing comprehensive solutions to global challenges as well as local challenges that are of the same level of importance.”

The minister said that COVID-19 has created an intense need for data, and repeatedly established evidence-based policies through innovative technical solutions. “The epidemic has become an enabler for the accelerated development of leading technologies, and the best evidence for this is the global market outlook. In its latest report on technology and innovation, UNCTAD predicted that the market for leading technologies would become $3.2 trillion in 2025, a jump of nearly 10 times than the levels of 2018,” he added.

 

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