# LEAP Tech Event

LEAP is an annual tech event that was founded in 2022 by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Saudi Arabia) (MCIT), the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP) and Tahaluf, an Informa company. The event was hosted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The conference’s topics include Fintech, Edutech, Smart Cities, Health technology, Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), Creative Economy, Future Energy, Gaming, Space, Retail and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
DeepFest, the region's AI event is co-located with LEAP as it's LEAP's dedicated AI stream. DeepFest is powered by Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA) and organized by Tahaluf.

## History

LEAP was founded by Informa Tech, SAFCSP and MCIT, and the first event was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 1–3 February 2022. The event noticed over 100,000 visitors in the period of three days.
About 700 tech companies, 330 investors, and 500 CEOs and tech experts participated in LEAP 2022. The event tallied to over $6.4 billion worth of initiatives and programs.
The event also conducted its "Rocket Fuel Start-up Competition" where altogether a million USD was awarded to promising start-ups. The event also hosted the world's largest Kaleidoscope with a length of 40-meter.
LEAP 2023, the second edition of the annual tech event took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 6-9 February, 2023. Over the four days, LEAP hosted more than 172,000 visitors, 900 exhibitors, 700 speakers who spoke on 11 stages from 50 countries, 500 start-ups, and 1026 investors with a combined AUM of 2 trillion.
At LEAP 2023, six start-ups have won a share of a $1 million prize fund at Rocket Fuel, the start-up pitch competition. Some of the notable companies in attendance included Hiroshi Ishiguro, Magic Keys, bHaptics, and Mirror.
LEAP 2024, the third edition of the annual tech event took place in Malham, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 4 to 7 March 2024. Over the four days, LEAP hosted more than 215,000 visitors, 1,800 exhibitors, 1,100 speakers who spoke on 10 stages and 19 tracks, more than 600 start-ups, 1,600 investors with a combined AUM of $4.89 trillion, and between $11.9 billion and $13.4 billion announced as an investment.
At LEAP 2024, six start ups won a share of a $1 million prize fund at the third Rocket Fuel, the start-up pitch competition. Some of the notable companies in attendance included AbuErdan, One Verse, Ubilite, NewTrace, Next Generation, Hyperlume and Lisan AI.

## Speakers and partners

The speaking panel has included many top-level executives, government officials, sportspersons, and subject matter experts, including Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, Börje Ekholm, Peggy Johnson, Stephane Houdet, Eugene Kaspersky, Michel Salgado, Christian Klein, Makaziwe Mandela, Maëlle Gavet, Susan Kilrain, Sian Proctor, Karren Brady, Steven Bartlett, Bill McDermott, Arvind Krishna, Heather Mohanan, Shou Zi Chew, Eric Yuan, Anne Neuberger, Mo Gawdat, Adam Selipsky, Sol Rashidi, Ciku Mugembi, Dr. Omar Hatamleh, Jordi Van Den Bussche (Kwebbelkop) and Elizabeth Adams.
LEAP's sponsors and partners include venture capitalists, Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, education institutes and start-ups, including Microsoft, Cisco, SAP SE, Citrix, IBM, Zoom, Hitachi, Ericsson, Huawei, PWC, Aramco, Tonomus, Deloitte IPERA, Google, Meta, Mobily, STC, Amazon Web Services, ServiceNow, TikTok and Cloudflare.