In my business, I do a fair bit of work with government agencies responsible for developing future economic development plans. It was with some interest then that I read the article in today’s New York Times entitled ”The Construction Site Called Saudi Arabia.” It is a good piece and I give the Saudi Arabia government credit for “jumping the curve” and trying to diversify its economy away from oil within the next 20 years. (This is a prudent policy because I explained in this piece on solar energy, the world’s energy infrastructure could look radically different in a couple of decades.)
I also give the country for thinking big (it intends to invest over $500 billion in order to build six new cities), but I would encourage Saudi Arabia to think even bigger and look for methods to leverage this economic expansion to gain expertise in new emerging fields.
For example, instead of just building six new cities, it should use this construction boom to bolster its expertise in the material sciences. Specifically, it should invest aggressively in nanotechnology and explore how the science might lead to better, stronger, lighter and even smart materials — and these materials, in turn, could lead to new building designs.
Given the region’s solar profile it is a no-brainer that the country should be exploring the immense potential of “building-integrated solar photovoltaic” technology (e.g. incorporating solar panels directly into building materials). And directly related to this idea, Saudi Arabia also has a great opportunity to bootstrap its solar industry. If the country does, indeed, build six new cities, there is no reason why those cities shouldn’t be powered with electricity generated from massive solar farms.
The country, I am sure, is already aggressively pursuing advanced desalination technology in an effort to grow its agricultural business. But instead of simply viewing agriculture as a source of food, Saudi Arabia should also invest in the emerging field of synthetic biology and explore the immense opportunity that awaits when agriculture and synthetic biology are applied to the energy and pharmaceutical sectors.
Finally, as Saudi Arabia builds its six new cities, it is advised to take a very close look at the transportation infrastructure linking the cities. I have written in the past about the role robotics can play in meeting the world’s future transportation needs. Saudi Arabia, because it is essentially building a new system from stratch (unlike most regions which must layer new technologies on top of existing systems), can embrace how new advances in robotics, RFID, wireless technology, and sensor networks could lead to a new paradigm in transportation and this could give the region a huge, long-term economic advantage.
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Jack Uldrich is a writer, futurist, public speaker and host of jumpthecurve.net. He is the author of seven books, including Jump the Curve and The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. He is also a frequent speaker on future technology and future trends, nanotechnology, innovation, change management and executive leadership to a variety of businesses, industries and non-profit organizations and trade associations.
