The Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority “Monsha’at” ends its AI Week held with the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) on August 9-13, which attracted more than 3,900 beneficiaries.

The week, part of Monsha'at's Business Weeks series and held during the Year of Artificial Intelligence 2026, brought together more than 40 entities from the government, private and education sectors.

It included 17 exhibitors, six main sessions and 78 networking meetings on putting artificial intelligence to work in products, services and business operations.

Events ran at SMEs Support Centers in Riyadh, Jeddah, Al Khobar and Madinah, and extended to Aseer at the Work Corner incubator with the Aseer Development Authority, to Jazan at Jada 30, a Social Development Bank venue, and to Qassim and Al Baha.

SDAIA ran a session on investment in artificial intelligence, led by Hisham Alsheddi, its general manager of investment, alongside a pavilion presenting data and AI solutions and offering consultations to participants.

Raed Alfayez, deputy governor for technology at the Communications, Space & Technology Commission, said businesses adopting AI and cloud computing should tie the technology to added value and real returns that raise productivity and operating efficiency.

Cloud solutions speed up business and give companies access to advanced services without building infrastructure of their own, he said.

Alfayez said Saudi Arabia's technology sector offers strong infrastructure and a market of thousands of local technology companies and homegrown AI products, alongside the world's major cloud providers, and urged SMEs to use them to compete internationally.

Saad Alghaidani, Oracle's head of strategy in Saudi Arabia, joined the investment session with education institutions to discuss universities' role as enablers of entrepreneurship and how research can turn into products and opportunities.

Monsha'at said the Business Weeks series runs through the year across economic and development sectors, connecting small and medium-sized enterprises with enablers, services, programs and opportunities in support of Saudi Vision 2030 objectives.