Eyad Albayouk from Flat6Labs talks Saudi VC and KSA’s startup ecosystem, reacting to the unveiling of The Line at NEOM and more

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Show notes:
1:40 – Richard’s one big thing is the Kingdom’s newly announced national aspirations and priorities for the research, development and innovation sector to enhance the kingdom’s competitiveness and add 60 billion riyals ($16bn) to its gross domestic product by 2040. Dr. Munir El Desouki, president of King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in Riyadh, sat down with The National to explain what these plans for the RDI sector entail. The hosts discuss the importance and impact of this new plan to consolidate the Kingdom’s aspirations into one cohesive plan with big investment.

8:47 – Lucien’s one big thing this week is THE LINE, a futuristic, almost unbelievable concept from Saudi Arabia. It’s essentially a huge city, which is only one building, that is 109 miles long in the shape of a single mirrored line cutting through the Saudi desert in NEOM. THE LINE will ultimately house 9 million people, will be 200-meters wide (656 feet), and is designed to sit 500 meters (1,640 feet) above sea level.
THE LINE in NEOM will span 34 square kilometers (13 square miles). The Line will run entirely on renewable energy, with no roads, cars or emissions. High-speed rail will connect sections of The Line. Lucien and Richard react to the announcement and the ambition of the concept.

23:23 – The 966 talks with Eyad Albayouk from the VC firm Flat6Labs KSA. Eyad chats with us about Saudi Arabia’s growing startup ecosystem and entrepreneurship in the Kingdom, and the state of Saudi VC in 2022 as the Kingdom ramps up Vision 2030 execution.

1:15:00 – Yallah! 6 Top Storylines in Saudi Arabia this week to get you up to date ahead of the weekend.

1) Will Lucid Motors’ Saudi Arabian Connection Help Win Them A Big Aston Martin Partnership?

According to a post on Medium: “Inside Evs Ben O’Hare reports that Aston Martin, a century-old British luxury car maker, may be looking to go electric to combat against flagging sales. The company is in somewhat dire straits, holding around $1 billion in debt and finishing off 2021 with a deficit of nearly $91 million for the year. Despite their recent struggles, Aston Martin revealed last year that they hope to have their first EV available sometime in 2025. To help facilitate this, they are said to be weighing other manufacturer platforms to help expedite their journey to a finished product. Lucid Motors, Mercedes Benz and Rimrac are believed to be favorites.”

2 Saudi Arabia Concludes its Participation at Farnborough International Airshow

Saudi Arabia concluded its participation at Farnborough International Airshow (FIA 2022), according a report in Asharq Alawsat. The five-day show was held in the United Kingdom, and witnessed wide-scale participation from across the globe. Under the national “Invest Saudi”, the Saudi Pavilion was organized and led by the General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI). It comprised GAMI, the Saudi Ministry of Investment, the World Defense Show (WDS), and the Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI). Ahmad Al-Ohali, GAMI Governor, said the core message to global stakeholders was it has never been easier to localize business.  Also announced was that the Saudi defense sector localization rate grew from 2% in 2018 to 11.7% in 2021.

3) Saudi Arabia Plans Air-Cargo Roadshows to Lure Amazon, DHL

Saudi Arabia plans to stage a number of roadshows in the next 12 to 18 months as it seeks to persuade the likes of Amazon.com Inc., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Deutsche Post AG’s DHL to help scale up air-cargo and distribution operations, Bloomberg reports. The Mideast country will invite private companies to establish partnerships and set up freight-forwarding and warehousing activities, said Mohammed Fahad Alkhuraisi, vice president for strategy at the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation.

4) YouTube removes offensive ads upon request by Saudi Arabia regulators

YouTube removed certain offensive advertisements which were described as inconsistent with Islamic and Saudi societal standards upon the request of media regulators in Saudi Arabia, Arabic news media Bloomberg Asharq reported on Monday, citing a YouTube spokesperson. On Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s General Commission for Audiovisual Media (GCAM) and the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) released a statement demanding the Google-owned video-sharing platform remove the offensive advertisements. A spokesperson from YouTube told the broadcaster that accounts of the advertisers who broadcasted the offensive content had been shut down.

5) 40 Saudi colleges to convert into applied colleges

The Saudi Council of Universities Affairs has decided to convert 40 theoretical colleges, located in various governorates, into applied colleges specialized in health, technology and engineering, Zawya reports. By this, the number of applied colleges in the Kingdom would rise to 75. The council approved the classification of the model Saudi universities into five categories. These are comprehensive, pedagogical, research, specialized, and applied. These criteria aimed to enhance differentiation between universities, raise the level of specialization and focus, enhance the efficiency of their operation, raise the level of added value to society and the nation with a road map to focus strategies for these universities, and to improve the quality of education outputs in line with the requirements of the national, regional and global labor market.

6) Saudi Arabia most positive on its country’s economic outlook: Survey

Saudi Arabia is the most positive on its country’s economic outlook with 93 percent rating it as good, according to the Ipsos Global Consumer Confidence survey. The survey used a representative sample of 20,022 adults aged 16-74 in 27 participating countries. According to the survey, across 27 countries, 32 percent on average say that the current economic situation in their country is good, while a majority of 68 percent say that it is bad.