Al-Haqil and Al-Ghamdi launch the "Smart Cities Challenge" at the Artificial Intelligence Summit in Riyadh

Monday 08 June 2026
"الحقيل" و"الغامدي" يدشنان "تحدي المُدن الذكية" في قمة الذكاء الاصطناعي بالرياض

As part of the activities of the second edition of the Global AI Summit, organized by "SDAIA", under the generous patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority "SDAIA" - may God protect him -.

His Excellency the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, Mr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, and His Excellency the President of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority “SDAIA”, Dr. Abdullah bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi, launched today the “Smartathon” competition under the title “Smart Cities Challenge” with valuable prizes amounting to “one million” Saudi Riyals, in strategic partnership between the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, and the Royal Commission for Riyadh City. The challenge aims to develop modern solutions to improve the urban landscape in the Kingdom’s cities, and to reach technological solutions that contribute to detecting and reducing manifestations of visual pollution, and to benefit from Saudi and international expertise to find solutions using data and artificial intelligence, in addition to stimulating and developing talents and competencies in the fields of smart cities, data and artificial intelligence.

The World Summit will discuss modern technologies, data analytics and artificial intelligence, and the activation of the concept of smart cities in a way that enhances the Kingdom’s leadership in this field, raises the level of municipal and residential services, achieves urban sustainability, and maximizes the benefit from artificial intelligence technologies in all cities of the Kingdom, especially in the city of Riyadh.

During the summit, the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing will present its objectives, which include developing and providing smart city platforms to support operational work related to cleanliness, visual pollution and public health, and providing analyses related to population and urban expansion, which will support the ministry in its journey towards raising the level of planning and distribution of services and improving the quality of life.

The ministry is working in coordination with 17 secretariats and 270 municipalities as a single system to achieve the goals of Vision 2030 by utilizing the latest artificial intelligence technologies and innovative work models that contribute to raising the quality of services provided in cities.

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