Essam Alwagait

Director of the National Information Center

Essam Alwagait has served as Director of the National Information Center at the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) since October 2019, with close to twenty years of experience in information technology. He previously served as CEO of the National Digital Transformation Unit and as Deputy Minister of Technical Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, alongside academic positions at King Saud University. He speaks about using infrastructure, AI, data and internet-of-things technologies to build cities that are knowledge-based, not merely smart.