FIWARE Foundation, the non-profit organization that encourages the adoption of open standards using Open Source technologies for the development of smart solutions on a global basis, signed a Membership Agreement with the city of Madinah (Saudi Arabia), during the FIWARE Global Summit, held in Gran Canaria, Canary Island, Spain, on September 14th.
By signing the agreement, Madinah became the first city in the world to hold FIWARE’s Platinum Membership, and got a seat on the FIWARE Board of Directors, next to the city of Vienna (Austria) and the city of Herne (Germany). FIWARE Foundation thus recognizes the regional leadership and the human and technological commitment of the Madinah Smart City Program (MSCP) and its platform, Raseel, the first smart city platform implemented in Saudi Arabia, powered by FIWARE.
During the Grand Opening Ceremony of FIWARE Global Summit, the agreement was duly signed by Ulrich Ahle, Chief Executive Officer, FIWARE Foundation, and Mr. Abdulrahman Ibrahim, Chief Data and Innovation Officer, Madinah Region Development Authority (MDA).
“We are very much proud to welcome Madinah City as our 8th Platinum Member. The FIWARE ecosystem is rapidly growing on a global scale. With its ambition to develop and provide Open Source and Open Standards around the world, Saudi Arabia is a country where FIWARE can generate tremendous value. In this regard, the city of Madinah is an extraordinary partner for FIWARE Foundation. We are looking forward to further strengthening our ties to develop and present to the market the first FIWARE-based smart city platform in Saudi Arabia to help digitalise the city and region to become even more citizen-tailored and sustainable”, commented Ulrich Ahle, CEO FIWARE Foundation.
“Thanks to this agreement, the Madinah Smart City Program (MSCP) will have further access to FIWARE-powered solutions and will accelerate the development and implementation of its smart city platform vertical solutions. It will also empower the impact of MSCP by getting direct access to FIWARE’s resources and participate in the advancement of open source technologies through the contribution in the technical committees and the advisory board”, added Mr. Abdulrahman Ibrahim, Chief Data and Innovation Officer, Madinah Region Development Authority (MDA).
On the other hand, MSCP will have an active role in the evolution of the FIWARE framework and become a powerful force for open innovation and developing open-source standards. Moreover, MSCP will boost FIWARE’s member and partner ecosystem by co-creating and deploying open source technologies.
FIWARE is enabling a new generation of smarter applications which exploit large-scale, real-time, and right-in-time “context information”. Its efforts focus on the promotion of the interoperability and the free flow of data within and between smart cities, the collaboration between cities for the adoption of common standards that can enable a landscape of diverse but interoperable Smart City solutions. FIWARE is boosting the creation of a sizable market on which developers can start investing and cities provide the basis for the development of an Economy of Data.
Madinah city is listed in IMD Smart City Index 2021, and ranked 2nd smart city in Saudi Arabia following the capital city of Riyadh, 4th regionally, and 73rd internationally. Madinah is an Early Adopter of ISO Smart City Indicators, among the first ten cities worldwide, accredited by the World Council for City Data. Madinah is the first city in Saudi Arabia to develop a comprehensive smart city strategy.
Raseel, powered by FIWARE, is the first smart city platform implemented in Saudi Arabia. Raseel is the intellectual property of Madinah Region Development Authority, which designed, developed, and implemented the platform through its Smart City Program. Raseel adopts open standards and open data concepts.
