RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's National Information Center intends to establish a backup site for the National Data Bank for post-disaster work, according to a report in Al-Watan newspaper. The project aims to provide an integrated strategy to restore the National Data Bank's ability to work after disasters by providing solutions to recover valuable assets when an unexpected interruption occurs. These assets include big data stored in the data lake as well as in software and hardware that are required to ensure the continuation of service without any interruption. The National Data Bank is a national initiative for strategic transformation, which was developed to achieve the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 and to support digital transformation. It is a bank for storing national data and a comprehensive base for the latest applications, technologies and tools that aim to collect, store and analyze data. It is planned to be a unified support platform for decision-makers in the public and private sectors. The Saudi Commission for Data and Artificial Intelligence (Sadaya) revealed during the launch of its official identity in March 2020 about the establishment of a national data bank and an innovation center for artificial intelligence. This was in the context of the Sadaya's preparations to support Saudi Arabia's joining of the world's leading economies in adopting artificial intelligence, which is expected to add more than SR500 billion (12.4 percent) to the gross domestic product by 2030. This reflects Sadaya's contribution is putting Saudi Arabia in the exclusive club of countries with data-based economies. The value of data economy and economic intelligence in the country is estimated at between SR15 billion and SR20 billion while there is an opportunity to achieve additional revenues of approximately SR40 billion by harnessing the power of data to achieve maximum value, ensuring that they are used in a responsible and safe manner. Saudi Arabia has made great progress in benefiting from the value of data, which forms an important part of national assets since the launch of Vision 2030, as the reform and economic transformation plan includes 96 goals, including 66 focused on data and artificial intelligence. The creation of Sadaya was a crucial initiative in transforming this trend into a reality.
