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MEA smart cities’ tech spending may double in 4 yrs

MEA smart cities’ tech spending may double in 4 yrs
Cloud computing will play a key role in promoting Artificial Intelligence

Mubasher: The annual technology spending by smart cities in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region is expected to increase by a double to $2.7 billion from $1.3 billion over the coming four years, according to KPMG's "The Rise of Smart Cities – Digital Transformation in the Public Sector" report.

Riyadh and Dubai are expected to be the top spenders when it comes to the development of smart cities, head of digital, KPMG Al Fozan & Partners in Saudi Arabia Samer Abdallah said, addressing the Digital Saudi 2030 conference in Riyadh.

Abdallah noted, "Given the Saudi government's move to embrace digital transformation in alignment with Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program 2020, information technology (IT) spending in the Kingdom is slated to grow by at least 14 percent each year.”

He added that global smart city spending is forecast to accelerate to $158 billion by 2022 from $81 billion in 2018, based on data from International Data Corporation.

“Cloud computing will play a key role in promoting Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) as these technologies are adopted across the broader business spectrum, he said, emphasising that companies will increasingly use AI-based cyber defence systems to detect and fend off any cyber-attacks,” according to the report.