Naver wins $100m KSA digital twin deal; DeepMinds launches for deep tech

Middle East AI News weekly digest...

Good morning!

Welcome to this week’s Middle East AI News!

A few big deals from Saudi Arabia to share this week, as NEOM’s newly launched NEOM Investment Fund takes a stake in autonomous driving company Pony.ai and electric seaglider manufacturer REGENT. Meanwhile, dozens of deals were signed as a result of South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to Saudi Arabia this week, including a $100 million digital twin contract for Internet giant Naver, an agreement with Hyundai Motors to manufacturer in the Kingdom, plus a 50 year agreement with KT and Hyundai Engineering on digital infrastructure for smart cities.

Much more news below (again, there was too much to list all here!), including the launch of DeepMinds Deep Tech Venture Studio, which is one of my topics in today’s live show.

I’ll be hosting Middle East AI News LIVE on LinkedIn at 12 noon KSA | 1pm UAE time | 9am GMT today!

This week, I’m looking forward to talking to Amine Staali, Founder & CEO of DeepMinds, the Middle East & North Africa's first deep tech venture studio. We’ll be discussing deep tech in the Middle East and North Africa, the challenges deep tech ventures face and how DeepMinds plans to solve some of the issues.

And, click here to attend Middle East AI News LIVE.

Thanks for reading!

/Carrington

PS If you missed my GITEX roundups you’ll find them on Linkedin: GITEX AI Roundup Part I and Part II

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Startups

DeepMinds to build deep tech clusters

#UAE #deeptech - DeepMinds, a new venture studio focused on the creation, assembly and scaling of new deep tech ventures in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) launched this month. The venture studio aims to connect developers of new technology with opportunities, resources and funding to create successful new MENA deep tech ventures. (Middle East AI News)

Smart Cities

Naver wins '$100 million' digital twins project in Saudi Arabia

#Saudi #SouthKorea #digitaltwins - South Korean technology giant NAVER Corp. has won a contract to build and operate a cloud-based digital twin platform for five cities in Saudi Arabia including Riyadh, Medina and Mecca - over five years, starting in 2024. (Korea Economic Daily)

50-year MOU targets Saudi digital infrastructure

#Saudi #SouthKorea #infrastructure - KT and, Hyundai Engineering & Construction signed a 50 year agreement with stc to develop Saudi Arabia's digital infrastructure. KT is responsible for contributing digital transformation capabilities, while Hyundai Engineering will provide construction expertise. The focus will be mainly on creating internet data centers and smart cities. (The Pickool)

Automotive

Hyundai to produce 50,000 cars per annum in Saudi Arabia

#Saudi #SouthKorea #investment - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol yesterday confirmed Hyundai Motor Company plans to build a car manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia as a joint venture with Public Investment Fund (PIF). The plant will have an annual production capacity of 50,000 electric vehicles and gas-powered cars. (Arab News)

NEOM invests $100 million in Pony.ai

#Saudi #investment - NEOM Investment Fund, a new wholly-owned subsidiary of NEOM, announced a $100 million investment, autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai to establish a joint venture in Saudi Arabia. Pony AI will develop, manufacture and deliver autonomous driving services, advanced vehicles, and smart vehicle infrastructure in NEOM and other key markets in MENA. (SPA)

Autonomous Vehicles

Dubai Municipality tests self-driving road sweepers

#UAE #AVs - Dubai Municipality has begun testing a self-driving electric vehicle dedicated to cleaning bicycle routes along the beach districts of Jumeirah and Umm Suqeim. The smart sweeper, has smart sensors that enable it to avoid obstacles, and it is able to work eight hours continuously per charge. (Emirates News Agency)

Aviation

NEOM invests in electric seaglider maker REGENT

#Saudi #aviation - NEOM Investment Fund has invested in REGENT, the US-based electric seaglider manufacturer The agreement includes a commitment by REGENT to establish a Middle East R&D and Training Hub in NEOM in 2024. (SPA)

Drones

Meituan UAS joins UAE NextGen FDI Programme

#UAE #FDI - Meituan U.A.S., a drone food delivery business, has joined the Ministry of Economy's NextGen FDI programme. The Chinese firm will use the program to explore the possibility of introducing its delivery drones, operating systems and drone hubs to the UAE. (Emirates News Agency)

AI Policy

SDAIA hosts first Saudi-British roundtable

#Saudi #UK #AIpolicy - The first Saudi-British AI Roundtable, co-organized by the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and the British embassy, was held in Riyadh this week. The event is to be followed by Saudi Arabia’s participation in the first Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit in the UK (1-2 Nov). (SPA)

Education

UAE students embrace AI’s superpowers at ‘AI Armchair’ event

#UAE #education - Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) introduced 300 students, from UAE schools to the capabilities of AI, via its first AI Armchair series of educational events. The event was organised in collaboration with G42 and US-based Cerebras Systems, (Zawya)

UAE AI office & ADGM sign training deal

#UAE #healthcare - The UAE Artificial Intelligence Office, is collaborating with the Abu Dhabi Global Market Academy, to train 5,000 national workers in new AI, cybersecurity, data science, and financial technology skills, via the academy's digital programme. (Zawya)

Healthcare

Malaffi, MOHAP complete latest phase of Riayati integration

#UAE #HIE - Malaffi, the Health Information Exchange (HIE) platform of the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi (DoH), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP), have completed a new phase of integration with the federal HIE, Riayati. This enables Malaffi’s clinical users to access patient information from the Northern Emirates. (Emirates News Agency)

UAE Ministry of Health launches Centre of Excellence for AI

#UAE #healthcare - The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has launched the UAE health sector’s first Centre of Excellence (COE) for artificial intelligence (Edge Middle East)

Kuwait Ministry of Health begins robotic surgery

#Kuwait #robotics - Kuwait Ministry of Health has become one of the latest users of Intuitive's Da Vinci Xi. The surgical robot, which has now been used for millions of operations worldwide. was use on Saturday to perform a life-saving prostate operation. The Da Vinci robot is now in use in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. (Kuwait Times)

PureHealth launches healthcare cloud

#UAE #healthcare - PureHealth has launched a healthcare cloud providing digital health as a service platform called ‘PureNet’. Built on advanced cloud computing technologies, PureNet seamlessly connects existing and new healthcare service providers to streamline and digitalise their operations. (Emirates News Agency)

Satellites

Thuraya and nybl partner for satellite communications

#UAE #satellite - Thuraya Telecommunications Company, the mobile satellite services subsidiary of Yahsat, has signed an MoU with nybl, a UAE-based AI startup. Both parties will focus on testing, certifying, and enabling the nybl platform over Thuraya and Yahsat satellites. (Emirates News Agency)

Entertainment

Stars of Science crowns top Arab innovator

#Qatar #StarsofScience - Season 15 of Qatar Foundation’s Stars of Science show – which drives scientific innovation among Arab youth – has awarded young Saudi robotics engineer Mohammed Abbas Albumijdad - Top Arab Innovator. (Zawya)

Virtual Assets

RAK launches zone for digital assets, Web3 and AI

#UAE #virtualassets - Ras Al Khaimah ruler, Shake Mohammed bin Saud bin Sacker Al Qasimi, officially opened the new RAK Digital Assets Oasis (or Rak Dao) yesterday, an economic free zone dedicated to digital and virtual assets, blockchain, Web3 and artificial intelligence. (CoinTelegraph)

Defence

Al Seer Marine, L3Harris renew strategic partnership

#UAE #USVs - Al Seer Marine and L3Harris Technologies have reaffirmed their partnership. The renewal of the agreement will enhance Al Seer Marine's ability to continue manufacturing and delivering Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV) across various markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. (Emirates News Agency)