Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Satya Narayana Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft, at the company’s Silicon Valley offices in San Francisco on Tuesday and signed two deals with the IT giant, according to reports.
The first MOU between Saudi Arabia and Microsoft “will train young Saudis and will support Saudi Arabia in its ambitious digital and knowledge-based innovation transformation under Vision 2030,” according to reports.
Microsoft inked another deal to “boost the Decision Making Support Center at the Royal Court by setting up systems and operational programs with the help of a team of experts from Microsoft.”
Microsoft, Saudi Arabia sign a MOU.
Microsoft’s Nadella expressed his company’s keenness on entering into partnership with Saudi Arabia in its great initiative to transform into a digital Kingdom.
“Microsoft will come out with technology to translate the Vision 2030 into a reality, with a focus on human capital and innovation, and we aspire to achieve it as early as possible,” he said.
The two deals with Microsoft are part of a larger and growing embrace of technology transfer from the young and powerful deputy crown prince.
Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with Khan Academy CEO Salman Khan.
The first investment made with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) empowered by the “Vision 2030” plan was the largest ever made into a private company with a $3.5 billion investment into Uber Technologies, the ride-sharing app that has caught on in the Kingdom where 80% of its riders are women.
Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanick said in a recent video interview with Al Arabiya after meeting with Mohammed bin Salman that Uber didn’t pick Saudi Arabia as a shareholder, but rather “we picked each other.” Kalanick noted Uber’s role in helping drivers become entrepreneurs while providing much-needed transportation needs to Saudi citizens, and primarily women.
Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also met with Cisco Systems, Six Flags Entertainment, and free online educator Khan Academy.
“In order to realize Saudi Vision 2030, Silicon Valley technology offers the kingdom a number of platforms and remedies to not only help push the National Transformation Program (NTP) along, but also to make tech-savvy Saudi youths a part of the effort,” Dr. Theodore Karasik said in an op-ed in Al Arabiya.
