Riyadh: Saudi Arabia places significant importance on the biotechnology sector as part of Saudi Vision 2030, said President of the National Data Management Office at the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) Alrebdi Fahad Alrebdi. He made the remarks during the opening ceremony of the fourth Riyadh Global Medical Biotechnology Summit, where he delivered remarks on SDAIA's role in biotechnology data. Minister of National Guard Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz attended the ceremony, along with several ministers and officials from around the world.

According to Saudi Press Agency, Alrebdi underscored the strong support the biotechnology sector receives from the Kingdom's leadership for its role in improving human health and diversifying the economy. He noted that the National Biotechnology Strategy aims to make Saudi Arabia a leading biotechnology hub in the Middle East by 2030 and a global hub by 2040.

Alrebdi highlighted that advances in genomics, precision medicine, drug discovery, and early diagnosis increasingly rely on data. This requires data to be managed, governed, and shared in a trusted, secure, and responsible manner. He said SDAIA has integrated more than 500 government systems from around 90 government entities into the National Data Lake (NDL). It has also made more than 23,000 open datasets available from over 340 government and private entities.

He expressed hope that the summit would strengthen partnerships and promote the exchange of knowledge and expertise among scientists, researchers, innovators, policymakers, and investors. This would support the development of high-quality solutions that have a sustainable impact on human health and quality of life.