Riyadh has maintained its position as the 3rd Arab city in the IMD Smart City Index (SCI) 2023, which saw for the first time the Saudi cities of Makkah, Jeddah, and Madinah included in the observatory, ranking the 4th, 5th and 7th respectively. At the global level, Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, and Madinah have ranked 30th, 52nd, 56th, and 85th respectively out of the 141 cities included in the Smart City Observatory, which seeks to find out how technology is enabling cities to achieve a higher quality of life for their inhabitants. This year's IMD index has focused on the population's realization of the impact of the smart technology systems their cities employ to improve their lives and the extent of balance they achieve between the economic and technological dimensions and the humanitarian factor. The Smart City observatory is one of the global indexes that evaluates the preparedness of cities and it is an assessment tool and holistic, interdisciplinary approach for urban planners, decision-makers, and researchers to evaluate smart tech systems' contributions to improving the living standards of residents. The improvement in the Saudi cities' ranking in the Smart City index was the result of collaborative efforts of all concerned agencies, including the National Smart City Platform, launched by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA).
