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The Future of NEOM and Giga Projects Panel | Cityscape, Saudi Arabia | Smart Cities Keynote Speaker
In this panel session futurist Matthew Griffin explores the impact that emerging technologies, both current and distant, will have on the future of Smart Cities and the lives of citizens in Saudi Arabia and beyond.
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Griffin, M. (2023) 'The Future of NEOM and Giga Projects Panel | Cityscape, Saudi Arabia | Smart Cities Keynote Speaker', 311 Institute, 26 December. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/futurist-panel-session-ksa-the-future-of-neom-and-smart-cities-with-cityscape/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
Firstly, thank you to the team at Cityscape Global in Riyadh for asking me to join ministers and regional entrepreneurs on a panel to discuss the role that emerging technologies will play in powering future smart cities such as the half a trillion dollar smart city NEOM, and 13 other Saudi Arabian gigaprojects.
On the panel we had myself, Dr. Maher Shirah, the Director General of Smart City Development and the KSA RCRC, Musaed Alotalbi, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation and Smart Cities, Othman Al Dahash, CEO of IOT Squared, and Feras Albanyan, CEO of AQALAT, and first discussed how the more commonly known technologies will help transform how citizens live and work in these ultra modern cities.
Cityscape, The Future of NEOM and Smart Cities, with Futurist Matthew Griffin
Then we dove in and explored how the impact that these technologies will have on the privacy and security of individuals, explored how cities could become self-funding and tax free havens thanks to Citycoins which use the city’s own infrastructure and Web 3.0 to make and mine cryptocurrencies that are tradable on decentralised exchanges, and explored how, throughout the life of these cities Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computing power will progress enough to turn these cities into Exascale computer nodes – and the impacts thereof.
Then, finally, we rounded out the session by covering the ethical questions some of these technologies raise and how to deal with those, before final summaries and close.
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In this panel session futurist Matthew Griffin explores the impact that emerging technologies, both current and distant, will have on the future of Smart Cities and the lives of citizens in Saudi Arabia and beyond.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Sources and further reading
- Cityscape Global cityscapeglobal.com
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 26 December 2023. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2023). The Future of NEOM and Giga Projects Panel | Cityscape, Saudi Arabia | Smart Cities Keynote Speaker. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/futurist-panel-session-ksa-the-future-of-neom-and-smart-cities-with-cityscape/
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