MCIT patronizes “Internet of Things Exhibition and Conference”

Under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) patronage, The First Saudi International Exhibition and Conference for the Internet of Things will be taking place in Riyadh from 28th until 30th of January 2018. The event will feature leaders of specialized sectors in technology, communications, gas and petrochemicals, and services designed to propel the digital transformation of cities, communities, people, data, and objects. It is organized by New Horizon for the first time and will occur at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center.

The leaders of major international and national companies will participate as speakers as part of the initiative to create a platform that focuses on the Internet of Things’ capabilities and face the challenges and identify the actual opportunities associated with the Internet of Things.
His Excellency Eng. Abdullah Al-Sawaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, said that “The holding of the Riyadh Internet of Things Exhibition and Conference for the first time represents a major step in supporting the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which has allocated a great deal of support to the IT sector, and affirmed its support for creative and innovative thinking to motivate young people to transform their ideas into actions and activities that contribute to the ongoing development efforts through the Vision 2030.”

He added that MCIT is seeking to transform the Kingdom into a platform for Internet applications in the region and to explore the best ways to reach this through the transfer of international expertise and by facilitating access to appropriate funding. He also pointed out that the Kingdom has great Internet of Things applications, especially since this market is still growing. KSA has an abundance of human competencies of researchers, developers, and experts in this area.

He also stated that the world economy would be heavily affected in the coming period by the technology of the Internet of Things, as this is something that has revolutionized the world of the Internet and its applications, which will include the various aspects of life from agriculture, industry, and health, to education, transportation, and others. This strongly suggests that the volume of investments in this field will be huge.

Regarding the challenges that internet technology is facing, HE Al-Sawaha indicated that MCIT would work with various stakeholders to provide everything that is required to foster a safe environment for this technology by designing an appropriate infrastructure to prevent infiltrations and tampering in the devices, to process, store and retrieve data from devices, and to deal with such issues head-on.

He concluded by saying: “We in the ministry oversee one of the most important sectors supporting the intelligent transformation, which is the telecommunications sector, described as the nervous system of the smart city, and we are working to ensure that this sector is active and responsive to the requirements of mega projects in this area.”

“This exhibition and conference is a significant event for the future of the Internet in the Kingdom,” said Shuaib bin Abdullah Al-Abdulrahman, General Manager of New Horizon. He thanked the Minister and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology for their patronage of this event. It will especially focus heavily on the creators of the Internet of things solutions that include electronic design, embedded systems, software development, cloud computing, system integration, analytical procedures, and others.

He stressed that the organization of this event in Riyadh is part of supporting the implementation of the National Transformation Plan 2020 and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which allocated a large area for the information technology sector and its support, stating, “The Kingdom will inject more investments into the digital economy to take a leading position. The vision is well aware that the digital infrastructure is the basis for building advanced industrial activities and attracting investors. To improve the competitiveness of the Saudi economy, it will develop the ICT infrastructure, specifically high-speed broadband technologies.”

The Internet of Things is a network of physical objects, devices, buildings, and others embedded with electronic devices connected to the Internet to collect and share data in real-time. This network enables objects to be sensed and made sense to be remotely controlled through the real-time network infrastructure, thus creating opportunities for more direct integration into the real world in computer systems. This eventually results in improved efficiency, accuracy, and economic benefits.