RIYADH: Saudi Arabia was creating the perfect environment for entrepreneurs and innovators to thrive in the digital and artificial intelligence sector, a leading Russian data science expert has said.
And speaking on “The Mayman Show,” digital transformation specialist Elina Idrisova revealed that it had been the ambitious Vision 2030 technology aims of the Kingdom that had attracted her to move to the country.
She said: “Saudi Arabia is doing it in its own way, different to what other countries are doing in the field. It is not trying to buy technologies or use existing solutions. It is trying to create a base in in the Kingdom to invent, to innovate, and to develop.”
Idrisova is currently working as a regional director of Elevatus, a Saudi-based human resources tech company, and previously held the same position with Ctrl2GO, a global provider of industrial solutions.
“The main goal is to create the basis so that people can innovate, do pilots, test, implement, and use these technologies.
“The core of AI is to create impact for people, and I believe AI can do a lot of things in terms of improving lives, communities, and services,” she added.
She pointed out that the Saudi government was creating an environment for the acceleration of infrastructure on the ground and noted that the private sector and other organizations would benefit significantly.
The entrepreneur also lauded Saudi efforts to create international dialogue for the industry by staging events such as the Global AI Summit to promote the technology for the betterment of humanity.
Idrisova said: “Global and Saudi leaders have been speaking about pioneering a new environment, a new ecosystem; and initiatives such as the AI corridor launched by Saudi Aramco is something that’s never happened before to create an ecosystem of startups that can be launched from Saudi and then expand into different regions, using Saudi technology in the global arena.”
She added that digital transformation professionals around the world were taking notice of the Kingdom’s march toward having an AI-driven economy.
“Speaking about the results, we see different transformation happening in terms of technology implementation, pioneering implementation and introduction in sectors from energy to environmental. And they are organizations,” she said.
Idrisova highlighted the pioneering work being carried out in the field of AI by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and research universities such as King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
