RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's NEOM is on a mission to become the world's most competitive free zone, said CEO Nadhmi Al-Nasr.
“NEOM is meant to be a model where this region will be a semi-independent free zone, it will have its own laws, it will have its own regulations and its own authority as a semi-government," he told an online conference hosted by Nikkei, the Japanese media group. "The reason for this is because it is our vision to make this the most competitive free zone in the world,” he said.
The event, held in partnership with the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA) and the Smart City Institute highlighted the investment appeal of the giga project which was originally revealed in October 2017 when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman introduced it to the world at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh.
The $500 billion mega-city planned as part of the drive to diversify away from oil, is destined to transform more than 26,500 sq. km in the Kingdom’s northwestern Tabuk region.
Peter Terium, managing director of energy, water and fuel at NEOM, revealed the different types of renewable energy sources that were being developed on the project and the challenges involved.
“We are going to build a land of the future, and the future is about sustainability,” Terium said.
“Just to give you a feel for the size of what we’re talking about. We are thinking about a society in 2030 that will need 30 gigawatts or 30,000 megawatts of installed capacity to support its energy consumption; that is a lot and is comparable to the size of a country like Portugal or Austria,” he said.
Terium explained the development anticipated a high degree of electrification, “whether it is electric mobility, electric drones or using electricity as a carbon-free form of energy and applications where it is currently not done.”
In order to patch a desert the size of Belgium into a mega-city powered by renewable energy, certain technological advancements would be needed to meet the electricity consumption levels such as the use of micro grids, he said.
NEOM aims to be world's most competitive city
https://arab.news/w7cqf
NEOM aims to be world's most competitive city
- Giga project may need as much as 30 gigawatts or 30,000 megawatts of installed capacity by end of decade
Economies must turn AI tokens into growth, says Microsoft CEO
- AI tokens are basic units of text read and generated by artificial intelligence models when processing language
DUBAI: Global economies will need to transform AI tokens into economic growth, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday.
GDP growth anywhere will be directly correlated with the accessibility of power and resources such as AI tokens, said Satya, adding: “We have a new commodity which is tokens, and the job of every economy is to translate tokens into economic growth. If we have cheaper commodities, it’s better.”
AI tokens are basic units of text read and generated by artificial intelligence models when processing language.
Satya also discussed the importance of diffusing AI technology and implementing it globally.
“Our job is to pioneer the relationship between AI and people so that productivity can increase. The scale of operations can really be increased by utilizing this technology,” he said.
“On the supply side, the ratio of tokens per dollar per watt has to get better. We have to ensure that the supply is there from the chips to the token factory. It's like electricity. We need a ubiquitous grid of energy and tokens that will power the economy.”
On the consumer side, Satya urged all firms to start using it and said both small- and large-scale operations would face different challenges.
“If you start fresh it’s easier to implement these tools, for large organizations there is a fundamental challenge to achieve scale in implementing the change. The change management challenge for large organizations is bigger,” he said.
He added this technology has the ability and demand to be implemented globally.
“We have the ability to deliver tokens all around the world, this will ensure even distribution of resources. The technology is in our hands to create opportunity in the Global South and beyond. As long as there is a demand and an environment to create capital investment, then it's worth it,” he said.
