HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman announces THE LINE at NEOM

His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Chairman of the NEOM Company Board of Directors, today announced THE LINE, a revolution in urban living at NEOM, and a blueprint for how people and planet can co-exist in harmony.

THE LINE, a 170km belt of hyper-connected future communities, without cars and roads and built around nature, is a direct response to some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity today such as legacy infrastructure, pollution, traffic, and human congestion.

"First, the idea of one very long, narrow city does exist, at least in fiction. In Arrival author Ted Chiang’s story "Tower of Babylon", the titular tower extends into the sky. “Were the tower to be laid down across the plain of Shinar, it would be two days journey to walk from one end to the other,” Chiang writes.

That’s approximately 40 to 60 miles high—enough to nearly reach the Kármán Line, the generally recognized border of outer space. But this is still far shorter than our city "line."

In Chiang's story, people who live along the tower’s height must climb over a month’s worth of stairs. It’s implied that this journey is almost always just one way."

“Why should we sacrifice nature for the sake of development? Why should seven million people die every year because of pollution [...] one million people every year due to traffic accidents?”

Future NEOM

A cornerstone of Saudi Vision 2030 and an economic engine for the Kingdom, it will drive diversification and aims to contribute 380,000 jobs of the future and SAR180 billion (USD48 bn) to domestic GDP by 2030.

His Royal Highness said: "Throughout history, cities were built to protect their citizens. After the Industrial Revolution, cities prioritized machines, cars and factories over people. In cities that are viewed as the world's most advanced, people spend years of their lives commuting. By 2050, commute durations will double. By 2050, one billion people will have to relocate due to rising CO2 emissions and sea levels. 90% of people breathe polluted air. Why should we sacrifice nature for the sake of development? Why should seven million people die every year because of pollution? Why should we lose one million people every year due to traffic accidents? And why should we accept wasting years of our lives commuting?"

"Therefore, we need to transform the concept of a conventional city into that of a futuristic one," His Royal Highness added. "Today, as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of NEOM, I present to you THE LINE. A city of a million residents with a length of 170 km that preserves 95% of nature within NEOM, with zero cars, zero streets and zero carbon emissions."

THE LINE is the first time in 150 years that a major urban development has been designed around people, not roads. Walkability will define life on THE LINE – all essential daily services, such as schools, medical clinics, leisure facilities, as well as green spaces, will be within a five-minute walk.

Ultra-high-speed transit and autonomous mobility solutions will make travel easier and give residents the opportunity to reclaim time to spend on health and wellbeing. It is expected no journey will be longer than 20 minutes.

THE LINE's communities will be cognitive, powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), continuously learning predictive ways to make life easier, creating time for both residents and businesses. An estimated 90% of available data will be harnessed to enhance infrastructure capabilities far beyond the 1% typically utilized in existing smart cities.

Redefining sustainability, THE LINE will comprise carbon-positive urban developments powered by 100% clean energy, providing pollution-free, healthier and more sustainable environments for residents. Mixed-use communities will be built around nature, instead of over it.

NEOM's sectors of the future, headed by global industry leaders, are already addressing some of the world's most pressing challenges. They are pioneering a new marketplace for breakthrough innovations and creating opportunities to attract talent, investors and partners to become part of its business ecosystem.

Construction of THE LINE will commence in Q1 of 2021. THE LINE is one of the most complex and challenging infrastructure projects in the world and forms part of extensive development work already underway at NEOM.

NEOM is part of the world-class, diversified portfolio of Saudi Arabia's Public

Investment Fund, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world.

About NEOM

NEOM is an accelerator of human progress and a vision of what a New Future might look like. It is a region in northwest Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea being built from the ground up as a living laboratory – a place where entrepreneurship will chart the course for this New Future. It will be a destination and a home for people who dream big and want to be part of building a new model for exceptional liveability, creating thriving businesses, and reinventing environmental conservation.

NEOM will be the home and workplace to more than a million residents from around the world. It will include towns and cities, ports and enterprise zones, research centres, sports and entertainment venues, and tourist destinations. As a hub for innovation, entrepreneurs, business leaders and companies will come to research, incubate and commercialize new technologies and enterprises in ground-breaking ways. Residents of NEOM will embody an international ethos and embrace a culture of exploration, risk-taking and diversity - all supported by a progressive law compatible with international norms and conducive to economic growth.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hrh-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-announces-the-line-at-neom-301204772.html

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-the-line-neom-megacity

https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/amp35206448/saudi-arabia-building-entire-city-in-straight-line/

Around 50 countries around the world have already started vaccinating their people against COVID-19

Around 50 countries around the world have already started vaccinating their people against COVID-19, barely a year after the first alert by China signalled the start of the epidemic.

China Leads The Way

China, where the pandemic first emerged, was also the first to start vaccinations over the summer, without waiting for a vaccine to be formally authorised but targeting the most vulnerable.

To date nearly five million Chinese people have been vaccinated. Beijing on Thursday granted "conditional" market approval to a Sinopharm vaccine with a reported 79 percent efficacy rate against COVID-19.

Russia followed on 5 December, rolling out vaccinations for those considered high risk with its contentious Sputnik V vaccine, which has since been approved in Belarus and Argentina, which launched their vaccination campaigns on Tuesday.

Algeria is set to follow them in January.

Britain First In The West

Britain led the way in the Western world, authorising the vaccine made by US-German pharma alliance Pfizer-BioNTech. Its vaccination campaign started on 8 December and by 27 December close to 950,000 people had received their jabs, according to official figures published Thursday.

Britain was also the first on Wednesday to approve the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. It will be administered for the first time on 4 January.

Canada and the United States (US) started their vaccination drives on 14 December, Switzerland on the 23rd, Serbia the 24th, the vast majority of the European Union (EU) on 27 December, Norway on Sunday and Iceland on Tuesday. All of them are using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The US and Canada are also the first two countries to have authorised the vaccine by US pharma company Moderna, which is up for approval on 6 January by the EU.

Around 2.8 million Americans have already been given their first dose of the COVID-19 jab. In the 27-nation EU, Germany has so far given the most injections, with more than 130,000 in five days.

Israeli Target

In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates were the first to launch their vaccination campaign with doses of China's Sinopharm, on 14 December in the capital Abu Dhabi. Dubai started its vaccinations on 23 December, using doses of Pfizer-BioNTech.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain launched their campaigns on 17 December, Israel two days later, Qatar on the 23rd, Kuwait the 24th, and Oman on 27 December.

All are solely using the Pfizer- BioNTech jab, except for Bahrain which is also using China's Sinopharm.

Israel, which has set itself the ambitious goal of inoculating a quarter of its population in a month, has already injected nearly 800,000 people. Bahrain has vaccinated nearly 60,000 and Oman more than 3,000.

Turkey, which has received doses of China's Sinovac, will launch its vaccination drive in mid-January.

In Latin America, Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica were the first to launch, on 24 December, jabs with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

In Asia, Singapore launched its campaign on Wednesday with the same vaccine.

Other countries on the Asian continent however have decided to take their time: India, Japan and Taiwan plan to begin vaccinations in the first quarter of 2021 and the Philippines and Pakistan in the second quarter, while Afghanistan and Thailand plan to start in mid-2021.

In sub-Saharan Africa and in Oceania vaccinations have yet to take off. But in West Africa, Guinea this week administered its first few doses of Russia's Sputnik V on a trial basis.

https://theaseanpost.com/article/over-50-countries-launch-vaccination-campaigns

Self Authenticate – Global Identity Registry The Number Mark of a Man

Information from https://www.aciworldwide.com/lp/new-payments-use-cases/self-authenticate-global-identity-registry Universal Payments

Challenge

In a more complex, open, digital payments environment, customers need a simple and safe way to authenticate themselves across all payment types, anywhere in the world.

Considerations

1. How to prove your identity? Identity needs to be a universal standard across all payment types

2. How to make it ubiquitous? Sign up and self management needs to be available in all countries and location types

3. How to protect the customer experience and the merchant? Seamless, intuitive, personalized management and application that enhances fraud prevention

Solution

1. Leverage a global identity registry for payments that enables customers to authenticate themselves across all payment types, even ones that are not yet commonplace in their country of residence. The current authentication piece of the new payments ecosystem is highly fragmented and confusing for the consumer, which can lead to fraud instances as they fail to protect themselves from fraudsters. A single identity registry with clear and simple controls helps consumers to understand and regain control of their identity and payments. A single standard would reduce perceived risk around unfamiliar payment options and security experiences to drive consumer spending in a globalized digital economy.

2. Create an omni-channel sign-up and management process to cater to all demographics. A fully digital registration process initiated via fingerprint and managed via a smart device might work well for the tech-savvy in developed, urban environments. But for the elderly, an in-branch assisted self-service process where they can receive trusted guidance face to face could be more beneficial for the customer experience. For lower density population areas or developing nations without high smartphone penetration, physical registration and management booths that allow on-demand access to a full digital experience could support feature-phone distribution of identity tokens that local merchants can accept.

3. Create certainty in the transaction for both consumer and merchant with a single, global identity registry to authenticate against for all payment types, including card-not-present eCommerce transactions across borders. Merchants rest assured that the payment is not fraudulent, and consumers are confident that their payments will complete and they will receive their goods. Even familiar payment types can be riskier for both consumer and merchant when parties are unknown, or transaction values are high. Use of blockchain or other distributed ledger technology to protect the data would also contribute to a more secure, improved experience for payments.

CX optimization

Apply the same globally accepted identity that is leveraged for payments authentication to other universal authentication networks to allow travel without paperwork and improved visa applications. Better authentication would also enable the creation of new ways to pay that leverage the security of a single source of authentication truth.