The city of Riyadh continues, at an accelerating pace, making distinguished and qualitative progress on the IMD Smart Cities Index for 2021, issued by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD. It jumped 23 ranks from last year to become the 3rd smartest city among the capitals of the G20 member states and the 30th smartest city at the global level. With this classification, Riyadh is outperforming great cities such as Los Angeles, Madrid, Hong Kong and Paris. Also, Madinah has been also included on the index as the second Saudi city after Riyadh, as it ranked 73rd in the world and 4th in the Arab world, ahead of great historical cities. This remarkable progress made by the city of Riyadh is the second of its kind among the G20 countries after South Korean capital, Seoul, and the 3rd largest in the world, as a result of the great improvements being witnessed by the Kingdom's capital on 34 indicators in all fields. On this occasion, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA), the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, the Madinah Region Development Authority and the Quality of Life Program extended their great thanks and gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy prime minister and minister of defense for their unlimited support for the digital sector system. It is thanks to which these leaps were made in the field of digital transformation, data and artificial intelligence in the cities of Riyadh and Madinah to achieve the well-being of citizen, residents and visitors by adopting the latest technologies and digital solutions in the two cities. This is in addition to speed and flexibility in processing digital government transactions and digital identity services, ease of starting new businesses and reducing waiting times, as well as the contribution of government applications and platforms to ease of access to information, completion of transactions and the great role they played in raising health and safety indicators, especially during the pandemic of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). This achievement confirms the concerted efforts of all sectors of the state in the provision of advanced infrastructure, smart applications and implementation of development projects, making Riyadh and Madinah smart cities that provide their residents and visitors with a high level of luxury and a good quality of life. The new classification comes to translate the support being provided by Saudi Arabia's s leadership to the digital transformation programs in the country as part of the goals of achieving the Kingdom's Vision 2030. — SPA
