Today, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Saudi Arabia in collaboration with select private sector leaders, has announced a three-day technology event set to become the largest global platform that brings together the entire global tech ecosystem in a bid to alleviate and tackle challenges across the world.
Taking place from the 1st – 3rd February 2022 in Riyadh, the LEAP event seeks to bring together, founders, CEOs, pioneers and disruptors with business and government leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and more to experience and learn about the technologies of the future and showcase inspiring technology across all major sectors including health, finance, energy, education, digital entertainment, transport, smart cities and more to curb the unique and specific challenges across the world.
Speaking about the event, His Excellency Eng. Abdullah Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, said: “Technology and innovation have enormous potential to transform economies and societies. We live in a time where you either leap or be left behind. We are proud to host LEAP to help the region lead and leapfrog with technology and innovation”.
With Kenya quickly becoming a tech hub for East Africa, connectivity is crucial to empower business owners, learning, education, innovations in industries, increased opportunities for entrepreneurship and state-of-the-art hybrid technologies.
While higher productivity, lower costs, and exportability are attracting industries such as agriculture, information technology, tourism, and renewable energy to Africa, it has become even more apparent just how critical a communication and technology infrastructure is to optimise industrial processes and Kenyans continue to rely on tech innovations to tackle these day to day challenges and needs.
The event will welcome speakers from all around the world; including CEOs from Kaspersky, VMware; Techstars; Hyundai Motor Group; Magic Leap; World Wide Web and Estonia. They will be joined by experts from the region; including Engineers and CEOs from STC; Mobily; CIO MENAT region for HSBC and Sky Kurtz, and founders of Pure Harvest.
LEAP will also feature inspirational stories from people like Steven Bartlett, renowned entrepreneur, and BBC’s youngest ever Dragon, as well as football legends Roberto Carlos and Luis Figo.
As global technology giants gear up to participate in one of the region’s most anticipated events, over 700 emerging technology start-ups prepare to showcase their solutions to the world. Organised and produced by Informa Markets, LEAP is sponsored by leading local and international companies including, Microsoft, CISCO, KPMG, SoftwareAG, Nutanix, STC, Zain, Mobily and Ericsson, who will act together as strategic partners to bring this event to life.
“Informa are delighted to have launched LEAP in Saudi Arabia. It is clear to us that with the enormous technology projects happening in the country, there is no hub in the world better placed to host such an amazing event,” said Mike Champion, Regional Executive Vice President of Informa Markets, the largest events company in the world. “In its first year, LEAP will be the largest debut technology event in history, and there can be no better evidence than that to prove Saudi Arabia is a future global technology hub.”
Registration to attend LEAP is now open. Further keynote speaker announcements will be shared in the coming months.