Naver to pitch cloud and AI power to win Sauid smart city project

South Korea’s household big-tech Naver Corp., backed by government support for Korean share in the ambitious $200 billion Saudi smart city project, is heading to the Middle East kingdom to pitch its advanced technology in smart infrastructure encompassing AI, cloud, and robotics.

According to multiple industry and government sources on Tuesday, executives, engineers, and programmers from Naver Cloud and Naver Labs in charge of cloud, robot, and AI businesses led by Chae Sun-joo, head of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) policy and external relations at Naver, will depart for Saudi Arabia this week. They will join the government delegation headed by Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to lobby for Korean participation in the kingdom’s smart and green city projects.

Saudi is building a 105-mile-long belt “The Line”, or hyper-connected cities along the $500 billion NEOM smart city spanning over 285 miles of the Red Sea coast near the Strait of Tiran and the Jordanian border.

Saudi officials are said to have shown interest in Naver’s smart building technology in full display and employment at the company’s second headquarters building 1784 in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province.

The Team Naver is expected to meet with key officials from Saudi Arabia government and organizations engaged in Neom City project. It will also give a separate presentation to key officials in the Middle East.

Admitting to the trip, Chae told Maeil Business Newspaper that the company has prepared a pitch on smart building, AI, cloud, and robot technologies.

Chae is behind the planning and design of 1784 building which is touted to employ all the latest innovations in cloud computing and robotics, with self-learning robots roaming around to replace everyday human tasks.

“Korea has the competitiveness to carry out projects from the planning stage based on its experience of creating a city or industrial complex and world-class digital technology level,” Minister Won said.

Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is leading a large-scale new city project, Neom City, with an aim to complete construction in 2030. It is a key project of Saudi Vision 2030 to migrate Saudi Arabian economy entirely reliant on oil resource to a sustainable structure.

The country is hoping to create a future-oriented AI city with environmentally-friendly energy infrastructure such as green hydrogen and solar and wind powers. Robots will handle logistics, security, and household labor service.

[Neom City (Provided by Neom City]

Saudi Arabia has plans to create Neom City into a city full of AI and other science technologies that is a role model for the world, said Neom chief executive Nadhmi al-Nasr.

Neom City will be built in Tabuk Province in total area of 26,500 square kilometers, which is 44 times the size of Seoul, Korea’s capital city. The project starts with a budget of $500 billion.

Saudi Arabian government is searching for various partner countries and companies to build Neom City. The smart city aims to become world’s first “Cognitive City” in which all infrastructure and distribution work on AI and robotic technology.

Saudi Arabia has expressed keen interest in Naver’s technology, especially its new 1784 headquarters that integrate advanced technologies such as cloud, robot, AI, and digital twin.

The new 1784 building that was built early this year is the world’s first robot-friendly building. Naver is engaged in teaching its own robots to work around the building. The company has set up specialized fifth-generation mobile communications network for the first time as a Korean business and added robot’s eyes and brain functions to cloud.

Naver is able to remote control and improve the robot according to different situations and apply various roles. A robot, for example, is capable of working as a deliverer inside the building during the day and as a security officer at night.

1784 ? which aims to become a tech convergence building ? is an area that integrates all of the technologies being developed by Naver ? Naver Labs, Naver Cloud, Naver Works, CLOVA Interface Connect (CIC), and Naver Glace CIC. The building plays the test bed role of advanced technologies not only involving robots but also autonomous driving, AI, cloud, and health care.

Naver plans to commercialize advanced smart building technology and knowhow so that other companies and countries are able to apply them to their own environment.

It isn’t only Saudi Arabia interested in Naver’s smart building technology ? others like the United States and Europe are also paying attention.

Naver plans to commercialize ARC and 5G specialized network package that integrates Naver technologies of various sectors by next year. ARC is a cloud robot system of Naver that stands for AI, Robot, and Cloud. It plays the role of robot brain.