ups will drive the Digital Economy over the next 15 years, and support job creation for technology talents, the Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology announced at SAP's first Start-up Focus event in the Kingdom. "Government support for tech start-ups is essential for driving the Saudi Vision 2030 goals of national digital transformation and sustainable career paths for Saudi talents. Public-private partnerships, such as with SAP, combine government vision and private sector expertise to amplify Saudi entrepreneur's ideas and enhance the Kingdom's digital economic competitiveness," said Dr. Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al-Suwaiyel, the Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology. [caption id="attachment_98020" align="alignright" width="300"] Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Mohammed Bin Ibrahim Al-Suwaiyel praises Saudi startups at the SAP Startup Focus event. — Courtesy photo [/caption] As part of SAP's mission to support promising technology start-ups, SAP has seen strong success on the Start-up Focus Program globally. Start-up Focus has helped eligible start-ups, whose product ideas are based on Big Data, predictive or real-time analytics solution, accelerate the development of their solutions, and assist in bringing their solutions to market. Boosting regional innovation and supporting local entrepreneurs, the SAP Training and Development Institute has now launched the initiative in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with an event in Riyadh. During the two-day event, attendees gained insights from successful start-up founders and thought leaders, and interacted with the start-up ecosystem in the Kingdom. Promising entrepreneurs also learned how to grow their innovative business plans with SAP's cutting-edge technology. "Saudi tech talents and Millennials are already among the best-connected in the world, and have the ambition and business acumen to become global start-up leaders. SAP is dedicated to joining forces with the Saudi government and local partners to support Saudi Vision 2030, digital economic innovation, and talented youth in reaching their dreams," said Ahmed Al-Faifi, managing director of SAP Saudi Arabia. Selected Saudi start-ups now have the chance to develop their solutions on the SAP HANA real-time analytics platform, receive free support from technical experts to help them productizing their ideas and making the best use of the SAP HANA cloud platform. Participating start-ups have access to a community network of entrepreneurs, partners, investors, thought leaders and industry experts. Once validated, start-ups can pitch to SAP's ecosystem of more than 320,000 customers worldwide. The program has engaged with more than 3,750 start-ups across 59 countries and 22 industries, bringing hundreds of solutions to market. "Launching the Start-up Focus Program in the Kingdom concludes with impressive turnout, bringing together the countries' start-up scene with successful entrepreneurs to exchange best practices and get inspired for an entrepreneurial career in KSA. SAP is now reviewing submitted business cases to identify the strongest start-ups, eligible for the program, taking Saudi innovations to a global scale and boosting local innovations," said Marita Mitschein, senior vice president and managing director, SAP Training and Development Institute. Demonstrating the economic impact of digital transformation, the Saudi GDP could increase by USD 31 billion by 2020 if the Kingdom optimizes digital tools, according to a recent Accenture report. As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 320,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. — SG
