The Public Investment Fund, a Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, and Japan’s SoftBank are setting up a joint platform to promote robotics.
The two organisations say they will collaborate with global institutions to measure productivity and investment returns in the sector, according to a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency.
“Technology forms an integral part of achieving Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, and this project reflects the kingdom’s ambition to play an important role in helping to shape the future of the robotics sector,” said Mohammad bin Salman Al-Saud, the crown prince who is generally credited as the architect of the Vision 2030 plan.
In October 2016, the Public Investment Fund revealed it would back a global technology investment fund set up by SoftBank that has also attracted investment from Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala fund.
Worldwide spending on robotics and related services will more than double to an estimated $188 billion by 2020, according to the statement.
©2017 funds global mena