News

IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Summit 2022 Will Explore KSA’s Digital Transformation

The two-day event will explore the Kingdom’s accelerated pace of innovation, its evolving technology landscape, and present-day strategies.

Published

4 years ago

September 2, 2022

David Morelo

idc saudi arabia cio summit 2022 will explore ksa's digital transformation

Saudi Arabia is undergoing a remarkable digital transformation guided by its Saudi Vision 2030 strategic framework, whose overarching goal is to lessen the country’s dependence on oil by diversifying its economy and enhancing innovation. The IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Summit 2022 edition will explore the Kingdom’s digital transformation over the course of two days filled with discussions, panel sessions, and keynote presentations from regional and global technology experts alike.

“This event will explore the Kingdom’s accelerated pace of innovation, its evolving technology landscape, and present-day strategies that the country’s organizations are implementing to transform into digitally resilient future enterprises,” states International Data Corporation (IDC) on its website.

The in-person event will be hosted on September 19 & 20, 2022 at the Fairmont Hotel Riyadh, a luxurious five-star hotel located in the Business Gate Complex, and those who would like to attend it can register free of charge to learn how the Kingdom’s CIOs and their international partners are building resilient digital infrastructures to make Saudi Arabia a leading ICT nation within the next decade.

Hamza Naqshbandi, Associate Vice President (Saudi Arabia & Bahrain) at IDC, will kick off the event with a welcome address, and his speech will be followed by a talk about tech strategies for a digital-first world given by Steven Frantzen, IDC’s Senior Vice President & Regional Managing Director (EMEA).

The long list of confirmed speakers who will share their valuable experience with the attendees of the IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Summit 2022 edition includes experts in the field, respected practitioners, and leaders from the industry, including:

Jason Roos, CIO of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
Phil Andrews, Regional Vice President of Northern and Eastern Europe for Red Hat.
Stephane Monboisset, Business Development Manager at Fortinet.
Zaid Ghattas, Senior Commercial Lead at AMD.
Turki Aldahmash, Executive Director of Business Technology (CTO) at National Center for Performance Measurement (Adaa).
Neil Harbisson, the world’s first officially recognized human cyborg.

In addition to its main agenda, the IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Summit 2022 edition will also play host to the IDC Excellence Awards to recognize the efforts of the country’s leading technology executives across 3 categories (CISO of the Year, CIO of the Year, and Women in Technology & Business), with a winner and 10 finalists named in each. A live awards ceremony will be held on Day 2 and hosted on a virtual platform.

As a premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology sector, IDC is deeply familiar with the impact of technology on the world around us. Its worldwide network of 1,300 analysts spans 110 countries, helping public and private sector decision-makers alike make fact-based technology decisions to achieve their key business objectives.

News

LUVED Is A New Curated Preloved Marketplace For The UAE

Sellers keep 100 percent of every sale and AI can build a listing in five seconds — though the app’s smartest tools are still coming.

Published

1 day ago

June 16, 2026

Joanna Melki

luved is a new curated preloved marketplace for the uae

Secondhand shopping has become mainstream in the UAE, but the experience is still scattered across resale sites, social media and informal group chats. LUVED, a mobile-first marketplace that launched in Dubai this month, is betting it can pull that activity into one place — and that the thing buyers and sellers actually want is not more inventory, but trust.

The app trades in what it calls circular luxury: preloved fashion and lifestyle pieces across men’s, women’s and children’s categories, bought, sold or given away peer to peer. Its main pitch is economics, with sellers keeping 100 percent of every sale under a zero-commission, fast payout model, while buyers are promised vetted pieces at lower prices.

Where LUVED is staking its reputation is verification. Sellers pass a KYC check, and items run through a two-layer authentication system powered by Entrupy that pairs instant AI screening with human expert review for high-value pieces. Authenticity certificates travel with each item, payments sit in escrow, and a buyer-protection package the company calls The Safety Net adds a 48-hour return window and dispute resolution. Door-to-door logistics removes the in-person meetups that make most resale deals awkward.

An in-app assistant called Luvbot — offering selling insights and demand-based recommendations — is soon to be introduced to the platform. Other features include autofill and dynamic pricing that lets users build a listing in as little as five seconds from three photos, plus a swipe-based feed, story-style drops and in-app chat in English and Arabic. Finally, a gifting layer, Luved & Gifted, lets users pass items to others inside the app rather than sell them.

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“After moving to Dubai, I saw how difficult it was to sell or even give things away,” says founder and CEO Shaima Sibtain. The friction is real, and so is the competition. In resale, trust is won transaction by transaction — and that is the test LUVED has set itself.

The app is live on the App Store now, with Google Play to follow. The company also plans to expand across the region, which will be the real test for a marketplace staking everything on trust.