RIYADH - The Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef, launched the strategy of the Saudi Advanced Industry Platform, which is hosted by the Industrial Fund, in partnership with the World Economic Forum, in a ceremony held by the Fund today in Riyadh.
During his speech at the launch event, Minister Al-Khorayef stressed that the launch of the platform’s strategy paves the way for the industrial sector in the Kingdom to implement the latest advanced industry mechanisms and practices, by sharing and transferring leading industrial experiences around the world.
For his part, the CEO of the Industrial Fund, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Moajil, explained that the Saudi Advanced Industry Platform includes 24 founding members from the public, private and academic sectors, as the platform’s strategy is to advance the industrial sector in Saudi Arabia towards adopting advanced industry, and strengthening links between investors and providers of modern technologies at the level of world, in addition to enabling the adoption of advanced technologies in the local industrial sector.
For his part, the advisor to the CEO and responsible for the international organizations in the Industrial Fund, Abdulaziz Al-Zaid, stated that the strategy of the advanced industry platform aims to provide practical solutions to enable the advanced industry in the Kingdom, which would help raise the operational and financial efficiency of the factories, explaining in the same context that the strategy was defined. Through the three priorities agreed upon by the members on the launch date of the platform, which are: identifying the gaps in national skills and cadres in dealing with advanced industries technologies and finding solutions for them, supporting the efforts of small and medium enterprises in their journeys towards digital transformation, and finally transferring technologies and best global practices from Through the global network of the platform to the Kingdom.
The role of the platform is represented in three main tracks, the first: accessing and developing talents and providing the necessary incentives to them, by focusing on their abilities and the additional skills they lack that would qualify them to enter the current labor market, as this track is led by King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, with a membership 7 institutions from different sectors.
The second track is led by the Obeikan Group, with the membership of 8 institutions from the public, private and academic sectors. This track is to support small and medium-sized enterprises in their journeys towards digital transformation, by studying the current situation of these enterprises to help them adopt the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The third track is the transfer of technology and innovations in an effort to develop local factories, by localizing proven technologies, in communication with other advanced industry global network platforms to transfer applicable technologies to the local market, as this track leads SABIC, with the membership of 16 institutions from the public and private sectors. And the academic.