Saudi Arabia's business delegation visits Naver headquarters

Riyadh Mayor Faisal bin Ayyaf shakes hands with Naver's robot arm on his visit to the firm's 1784 headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Courtesy of Naver

A group of top-ranking businesspeople from Saudi Arabia paid a visit to Naver’s second headquarters, Tuesday, to experience the latter’s much-hyped digital twin technology adopted at the symbolic robot-friendly office building, Korea’s leading internet portal operator said, Wednesday.

Their visit came in reaction to a surprise contract Naver won from the Saudi Arabian government last year. Under the contract worth $100 million (134.4 billion won), the Korean IT firm will develop cloud-based digital twin platforms for Riyadh and four other major cities there over five years.

Digital twin refers to a technology used to create virtual duplicates of real-world cities, objects or spaces. Saudi Arabia aims to utilize it for smart urban planning, monitoring and even flood prediction.

The Saudi Arabian business delegation included New Murabba CEO Michael Dyke and Riyadh Holding Company CEO Assim AlSuhaibani. Both companies are key partners for the digital twin project with Naver. Riyadh Mayor Faisal bin Ayyaf and Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Korea H.E. Sami M. Alsadhan also accompanied them on their visit to the Naver tech office.

The Saudi Arabian visitors were briefed about digital twin technology operation during their visit to the Naver 1784 high-rise building in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

The Saudi Arabian businesspeople also met with Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon and other ranking executives. Both sides also exchanged ideas on how to elevate their partnership in a more sustainable and practical manner.

In July, Naver launched its digital twin project in Saudi Arabia, using its 3D modeling technology to create virtual replicas of the country's major cities. This initiative aims to develop detailed virtual environments for enhanced urban planning and management.

Naver is also set to establish its new office branch in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh by the end of 2024, which will be named Naver Arabia. The branch will oversee the firm’s overall business operation across the Middle East. With its establishment, the company is expected to speed up the ongoing digital twin project there.

“This marks the first time that top executives from our partner firms involved in the digital twin project visited our 1784 headquarters. They held in-depth discussions with Naver over extending their partnerships to a broad level by utilizing Naver’s various services and technologies," a Naver spokesperson said.

"All members of the business delegation from Saudi Arabia are core tech partners for Naver, so both sides also engaged in talks on how to diversify the use of digital twin platforms down the road.”