Saudi Arabia has sought to keep abreast of urban changes in cities and to transform them into smart cities by harnessing efforts and initiatives to support digital transformation, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT) to facilitate people’s lives, as well as enabling government entities to manage smart cities and take advantage of cloud services and national data to support decision-making.
Saudi cities ranking in smart city index
According to a recent report by the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA), as a result of the Kingdom’s efforts, 5 Saudi cities appeared in the index IMD Smart Cities 2024, a global index that measures the level of actual development of smart cities worldwide. Riyadh ranked (3) regionally and (25) globally, followed by Mecca with (5) regionally and (52) globally, after which the city of Jeddah was ranked (6) regionally and (55) globally, and Medina came ranked (7) regionally and (74) globally, and Al Khobar was ranked (99) globally, out of a total of (142) cities around the world covered by the index.
Applications of AI and IoT in Saudi smart cities
Smart cities in the Kingdom have relied on AI and IoT technologies to enhance quality of life. The most prominent examples include: developing smart electrical meters, establishing dedicated applications to serve the health sector such as health and security apps, employing smart bracelets to serve contractors and pilgrims, launching the Najiz platform as a unified platform for electronic justice services, and establishing my school’s educational platform to create a unified education system.
Global trends in smart city investments
The world’s countries have increasingly spent on smart city technologies, including investing in technologies and infrastructure such as IoT, AI and big data. Smart cities create safer, more efficient and sustainable societies through technical innovation and data-based decision-making; These cities represent the next generation of critical infrastructure that supports all aspects of human life.
Urban migration and smart city solutions
Urban planning experts (smart cities) have been one of the modern solutions facing the rapidly increasing population as a result of urban migration to cities. The United Nations World Migration Report 2024 projected that the world’s urban population would reach 68 percent by 2050, overshadowing increased global spending on smart city technologies and investment in smart city technologies and infrastructure.
Cybersecurity considerations
The report reviewed the concept of smart cities defined by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as initiatives that effectively leverage digital technologies to promote citizens’ well-being and provide more efficient and sustainable urban services and environments. The report touched on cybersecurity and its importance in the light of smart cities’ reliance on digital technologies and their potential for widespread growth in cyberthreats.
Saudi efforts to empower smart cities
The report highlighted the Kingdom’s significant efforts to keep abreast of urban changes and seek to transform them into smart cities by harnessing efforts and initiative to support digital transformation and the use of AI technologies.
SDAIAs initiatives to support smart cities
The report also highlighted the efforts of SDAIA to empower smart cities and support government efforts towards digital transformation. This is evidenced by the launch of several applications and platforms, including the National’ Smart C’ Platform, the Government Cloud (DEEM), the National Data Bank (NDB), Estishraf, Sawaher poral, Tawakkalna, Ehsan, and Nafath.
Balancing smart city innovations with cybersecurity risks
With the great importance of smart cities in addressing a number of development challenges such as: Increased population, traffic congestion and Internet speed, but they face significant challenges, primarily the increasingly risky cybersecurity challenge, with smart city components increasingly linked to a complex network of interconnected systems that are essential to the functioning of smart services, and are currently experiencing a surge in exploitation of security gaps in smart city operations worldwide.
Vulnerabilities of interconnected digital systems in smart cities
The report elaborated on the importance of cybersecurity in smart cities, where it relies heavily on interconnected digital infrastructure smart cities and the risks of ICT supply chains, making them highly vulnerable to cyberattacks, and underscoring this importance. and increased automation of infrastructure operations, data and privacy protection and infrastructure weaknesses, The report also highlighted the impact of cyberthreats in smart cities and highlighted concerns about cyberattacks, namely data penetration and infrastructure systems, whose negative effects are: Infringement of privacy, destruction or manipulation of data, theft of data, extortion of individuals and companies, disruption of infrastructure systems.
Read more: Four Saudi cities ranked in the ‘Smart Cities Index’ in 2023
Mitigating cyber threats in smart cities
The report outlined best practices in cybersecurity for smart cities, the role of frameworks in achieving cybersecurity in smart cities through the development of policies and procedures for dealing with cyberattacks, threat analysis and the implementation of preventive measures, and the emergence of a set of security practices to reduce potential risks, avoid cyberthreats and balance efficiency, innovation, cybersecurity and privacy protection.
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