In 2013, ICT spending in Saudi Arabia grew by 12%. A market liberalization and shifting demographics led to mobile phone penetration rates reaching 170% (63% smartphones), and approximately 60% of the total population became Internet users. The popularity of social networking was at an all-time high, receiving the largest ever number of subscriptions in a calendar year. The Saudi Arabian government has now prioritized the use of ICT to enable citizens, businesses and government agencies to benefit from e-government. Several ministries and municipalities have enhanced their online portals and launched dedicated mobile applications. Many government agencies were integrated by using the e-Government Program Yesser Infrastructure. These infrastructures include: Government Service Bus (GSB), Government Service Networks (GSN), and the most recently established center, the National Contact Center, ‘Amer', which is dedicated to supporting citizens and businesses regarding e-services, via various channels such as telephone, e-mail, website, SMS, FAX, and social networks. As part of the 2nd National e-Government Action Plan, several innovative initiatives are being implemented, and many others are in the pipeline. There has been an enormous increase in demand for ERP & CRM, business and data analytics, document archiving, social media, e-services, website and mobile application development, smart cards and RFIDs. In addition, setting up data centers and cloud computing, information security architecture, contact and support centers, have also become a priority. To further enable this transformation, Yesser, the Kingdom's e-Government program has partnered with French business information group, naseba, to host the 5th Annual Kingdom e-Government Summit, on May 18-19 at the InterContinental Hotel in Riyadh. With the theme “Enabling smart, social and mobile government”, the summit will host up to 120 senior government officials to discuss and benchmark the digital future of the Kingdom. Ali Bin Saleh Al Soma, Yesser's Director General, will deliver the opening keynote of the summit. Regarding the partnership and the summit, he said, “We are happy to partner with naseba and host the Kingdom e-Government Summit once again. The summit serves the purpose of bringing together government agencies, vendors and stakeholders all together in one place. For years it has served as an important platform for us to communicate our national rxecutive plans, and it will continue to support all e-government initiatives.” Managing Director of naseba, Nicholas Watson noted, “We are proud to work with Yesser again. Both parties combined have established a ‘must attend' platform for all stakeholders involved in modernizing the Saudi Arabian public sector. The caliber of speakers and brand names associated with the summit demonstrate its importance to the country. I have no doubt that the platform will continue to aid e-government initiatives within the Kingdom.” Sponsors and exhibitors at the summit include: Fujitsu, Qlik, SAS, InfoWatch, Axios Systems, Kodak, BoardVantage, Global Knowledge, Wacom and Metacompliance. naseba offers business facilitation platforms for clients who want to develop in growth markets. We conduct exhaustive research, match buyers and sellers and then produce high-profile events, all with a strategic focus on facilitating deals—all in the right place and at the right time. We work in six key sectors, leveraging our expertise to create deal flow, foster networking and train leaders. naseba has the capacity to help you enter new markets, raise capital, secure partners and close sales. — SG
