The Saudi Federation for Cyber Security, Programming and Drones (SFCSPD) and TETCO, the technological arm of Saudi Ministry of Education, have signed a strategic educational cooperation deal with UBTECH Robotics in a bid to nurture future AI and digital talents in Saudi Arabia.

The signing ceremony was held under the witness of a host of notable figures including Dr. Abdullah Sharaf Alghaamdi, Mr.Faisal Alkhamisi, Chairman of SFCSPD, Dr. Abdulrahman Nasser Al Khurayyef, Deputy Minister of Education, Dr. Iman AlmutAlri, Deputy minister of commerce, as well as Dr. Inas bint Suleiman bin Mohammed Al-Issa, Director of Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, on September 2 at the AI Conference facing the country’s bold national reform program “Vision 2030”.

The agreement was signed among Dr. Yousef Alohall, CEO of TETCO, Mr. Muteb Alqany, CEO of SFCSPD as well as Mr. Terry Tan, Director of UBTECH MENA Region.

According to the trilateral agreement, thousands of UBTECH AI robotic education labs and bases will be launched in Saudi Arabia in coming years, UBTECH AI robotic education is expected to be popularized among the country’s K12 schools. The Saudi Arabia government is aiming to establish the country as the AI robotic education center for the Middle East and North African regions, as well as make it an AI education leader in the future.

AI education is booming globally. Since 2014, major countries in the world have included AI education into their K12 curricula. Countries like South Korea and Australia have even listed programming into national compulsory courses while the USA and European nations have made AI development as an industrial priority. AI talents will inevitably become the foundation of a country’s AI development and the core power source behind competitions among countries worldwide.

As the largest country in the Middle East in terms of both land area and economic volume, Saudi Arabia is of extreme strategic importance to the Belt and Road Initiative and is widely recognized as the most influential nation in the Arab world. Saudi Arabia aims to drive innovation and economic growth using advanced digital technologies to deliver on its bold reform program, Vision 2030, of which digitization and AI are key enablers. The country is now introducing digital skills in K-12 education and requiring school and university curricula to match future needs and build skills in areas such as AI, data science, data security, and so on.

As a global leading AI and robotic company, UBTECH has established a unique AI robotic education solution which offers a complete curriculum running from primary schools through to vocational high schools and universities. The solution also includes humanoid robots and building kits as intelligent teaching tools.

Carrying the trends of rapid AI education development, UBTECH plans to keep expanding global markets and exploring localized application modes in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative.