Governor of Digital Government Authority (DGA) Eng. Ahmed Mohammed Al-Suwaiyan explained that Saudi Arabia is the highest in the world in terms of the government technology spending out of the overall national technological spending at 21.7%, with a value of SR93 billion by 2025. This came during his participation on Tuesday in the Global Entrepreneurship Conference hosted by the capital, Riyadh, under the patronage of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy prime minister and chairman of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA), and organized by Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority "Monsha'at". Eng. Al-Suwaiyan stated that government initiatives are working to promote localization in the digitization sector, citing the volume of investments in this aspect that amounts to 73% of the total venture capital financing. He pointed out that the total number of open data currently published amounted to 6,442 from 141 government agencies, and regarding government demand, Eng. Al-Suwaiyan expected that information technology services would capture 74% of the total demand in the coming years in cloud computing solutions, software and big data. He added that DGA has launched the Digital Government Investment and Procurement Program (SADAF) Initiative to improve financial planning and accelerate digital procurement in government agencies, increase the participation of the private sector in digital government projects, raise the quality of work of digital government service providers and operators, stimulate foreign and local investment and enhance local content. DGA governor also stressed that the Authority's vision is for SADAF to be the gateway to digital investment for the public and private sectors, leading to a sustainable digital economy in accordance with the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030. It is worth mentioning that DGA has recently launched the National Digital Government Strategy with a vision that stipulates reaching a pioneering digital government for an empowered and vibrant society. It would also send out a message that is to provide seamless and integrated digital government services by utilizing technologies and focusing on the preferences of beneficiaries to provide an integrated and interconnected digital government system. The system is to improve operations decision-making, encouraging the adoption of digital technologies to better meet the existing challenges, taking into account the aspirations, needs and preferences of the beneficiaries at the heart of the decision-making process at the level of digital government. — SPA
