need 2 linedoin informative post on - The World’s First Cognitive Community

Building the world’s first synthetic intelligent operating system along THE LINE, Saudi Arabia will create cognitive communities using data in ways far beyond the capabilities of today’s smart cities.

The term “smart cities”—describing the use of data and digital technologies to make better decisions and improve quality of life of inhabitants—has become a watchword for our time. By the end of 2018, some 22 billion electronic devices were deployed globally[1]—almost three per person. Yet, despite these innovations, one in 10 people still live without electricity[2], a child dies every five seconds from poverty-related causes[3] and the climate is in crisis[4]. 

THE LINE is designed not just as a “smart” city, but a so-called “cognitive”—or predictive—one. The cognitive city is built on three pillars: the ability for citizens and enterprises to connect digitally to physical things; the ability to be able to compute or to analyze those things; and the ability to contextualize, using that connectivity to drive new decisions. 


“In contrast to a smart city, THE LINE will leverage almost all the data generated in the city to fundamentally change how its citizens work, live, and play.”


Joseph Bradley

HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL, NEOM

Cognitive communities use data far beyond the capabilities of today’s smart cities, which typically utilize less than 1% of available data. THE LINE will harness more than 90% of its data, creating a predictive system that will offer ever-improving services to residents and businesses. 

“When you think about smart cities today, they typically focus on one particular use-case, such as smart lighting, or smart waste management,” says Joseph Bradley, Head of Technology and Digital at NEOM, the $500 billion megacity of the future announced in 2017 by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, in which THE LINE is located. “A cognitive city is not an isolated set of use cases; it’s a system of use cases that come together,” Bradley explains. “In contrast to a smart city, THE LINE will leverage almost all the data generated in the city to fundamentally change how its citizens work, live, and play. It’s the power of prediction and predictability that will fundamentally reshape and change our experiences.”

THE LINE seeks to be a home for innovators and entrepreneurs keen to be part of NEOM. THE LINE is expected to be central to the megacity’s growth, aiming to reshape industries such as transport, energy, and urban design, with a focus on the environment and sustainability.




100% ELECTRONIC

80% 

Technology plays a fundamental role in this reshaping. The services for THE LINE's cognitive communities will be provided 100% electronically. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics into every aspect of personal and commercial life, THE LINE will use machine learning and predictive technology to continuously improve life for its inhabitants.

“We’re focusing on the three ‘Cs’—connect, compute and contextualize,” Abdullah Alswaha, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Communication and Information, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Jan. 19 “Contextualize is the ability to predict the next time we’re going to have a major issue with a pothole, or a road with a maintenance aspect. Our ability to predict that, and to prevent that from happening and fix pre-emptively, that’s the level of city level innovation we’re talking about. At the personal level, we’re talking about the ability to connect with ‘Dr. NEOM’—the ability to talk to a machine in a virtual setting at any instant and have the diagnosis and prognosis at your fingertips.”  




of the world’s population live within eight hours flying time of Abu Dhabi.

SAUDI ARABIA’S RENEWABLE ENERGY TARGET

27.3 GW

57.8 GW

by 2023

by 2030

TECHNOLOGY PLAN

CONNECT

COMPUTE

CONTEXTUALIZE

+

+

In a land where connectivity will be the rule, not the exception, advanced technology will be ubiquitous. THE LINE is targeting low-latency connectivity—the ability to process a very high volume of data with minimal delay—and no digital divide. This hyper-connectivity will be achieved through the installation of 5G, fiber, satellite and wireless solutions. 

An agreement is in place with stc, Saudi Telecom Company, to establish a 5G network infrastructure along THE LINE’s connected communities. As the first region built from the ground up using 5G technology, NEOM aims to position Saudi Arabia as a global leader in the development of 5G infrastructure and applications.

Data will be processed through cloud, edge computing and data centers, analyzed and then applied by NEOS, a digital infrastructure spine beneath the city that will act as THE LINE’s brain and neural system. Described by Bradley as “the world’s first synthetic intelligent operating system”, NEOS will facilitate the transfer of data and movement of people, and ultimately create the entire communications infrastructure of the city.




THE WORLD’S LARGEST GREEN HYDROGEN PLANT

$5B 

650

3 million

Venture between NEOM and ACWA Power and Air Products

Tons of hydrogen a day

Tons of CO2 emissions avoided annually

4 GW

1.2 million 

2025

Solar and wind power

Tons of ammonia a year

Year on line

THE CITIZEN AT THE HEART

At the heart of this data collection and connectivity is the citizen. While this cognitive city brings the power of analytics to decision-making in new, unique ways, respect for citizens’ privacy is equally at the forefront. NEOM will pilot a new, future-proof quantum encryption technology in order to offer residents an unprecedented level of data security. 

The kingdom is committed to adhering to the best OECD principles managing and owning the data while respecting data privacy and sovereignty, according to the communications minister.

“When it comes to best practice, if you look at today’s most advanced implementations of data governance and laws, the ownership is with the person,” Alswaha said. “If the person allows companies or corporations to use that data, definitely we are all in for consumer protection and opting in.”

THE LINE already has commitments of $1.5 billion from Google and Alibaba to help build the technology infrastructure—the largest investment in the Middle East and North Africa when it comes to digital in the economy—according to Alswaha. As NEOM is within four hours’ travel of 400 million people and within eight hours of 1 billion people, the region will be “the intersection of tech and digital for three continents,” he added. 





Besides creating the world’s first cognitive city, THE LINE’s developers envision it becoming a living laboratory for digital entrepreneurs. By incentivizing early deployment of robotics, human-machine interfaces and AI, the city expects to serve as a global innovation and research hub where businesses can research, incubate and commercialize new technologies and scale them into real-world use cases. A funding plan is in place for anchor venture-capital investments.




THE BENEFITS OF COGNITIVE COMMUNITIES

For residents and businesses, cognitive communities aim to be more robust, responsive and predictive than today’s smart cities. By proactively matching supply and demand, THE LINE expects to minimize societal challenges such as unemployment and hunger. This city’s use of integrated technology will also help defeat the spread of disease, by ensuring more accurate diagnoses and faster recovery. 



















“So we are very concerned, passionate, about preserving our environment and not just keeping its status quo, but actually leaving it better than we first initially saw it.”


Joseph Bradley

HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL, NEOM

Globally, NEOM’s innovative environment seeks to serve as a testbed for taking urban development to a new level. While the pandemic has expedited the digitalization of many industries, a trend that is likely to continue, NEOM’s designers see their role as demonstrating how digital services can meet these needs reliably. 

“When you think about the core things you can take away from the NEOM experience, one thing is that you have to have an open and inclusive approach. Here there are no digital divides, there are no physical divides—everyone in NEOM is included in the process,” says Bradley. “Another is we are not sacrificing the environment to achieve our results - how we achieve them is just as important as the results we are achieving. So we are very concerned, passionate, about preserving our environment and not just keeping its status quo, but actually leaving it better than we first initially saw it.”