Creativity showcase celebrates deep links between UK tech leaders and Saudi innovators

- The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture's Creative Solutions initiative highlights immersive digital technologies developed with UK tech experts

- Ithra's $100,000 program spotlights five prototypes by young finalists presenting to international industry experts and investors in London

LONDON, March 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) is presenting five projects created under the mentorship of UK-based tech experts in its inaugural Creative Solutions initiative at London's County Hall on March 22, 2022. The groundbreaking program is designed to boost Saudi's creative economy by empowering digital content creation in immersive technologies, and draws on world-leading British tech talent. Creative Solutions also shows how the UK's established tech industry can be harnessed to support the IT sector development in emerging markets.

According to Ithra's recent Cultural and Creative Index report, the industry contributed 1.5% to Saudi GDP in 2018, growing at a healthy 13% annually. Creative Solutions empowers this sector through its focus on bolstering professional skills development, while promoting knowledge sharing and the development of original creative content and marketable solutions. The participants were mentored by UK tech experts including Maddalena Crosti, program lead at Digital Catapult (the team behind CreativeXR, the UK's largest immersive content accelerator), and Simon Benson, a leading technology consultant and former director of immersive technology at Sony, where he was part of the team that founded the PlayStation VR project. Anthony Geffen, one of the world's leading documentary filmmakers and a pioneer in immersive storytelling, will attend the demo day alongside some of the biggest personalities and entities in UK innovation.

The event will highlight five of Saudi Arabia's most promising young innovators, the majority of whom are women, who will demonstrate their prototypes that explore interactive gaming, VR, AR, location-based experiences and more in fields such as art, health and wellbeing, training, entertainment, education and culture.

The projects are the result of a year-long program themed "Digital Immersive Content Creation." From 30 ideas by 59 creatives, five were chosen for the international bootcamp. Each received a grant to bring their ideas to life.

"The UK is a global hub of innovation, and our young creatives have benefitted from collaborating with industry leaders who shared their keen insights and helped to develop these prototypes," said Miznah Alzamil, Head of Creativity and Innovation at Ithra. "Ithra is at the center of the Kingdom's cultural and creative ecosystem, and Creative Solutions is testament to our commitment to building a sustainable creative industry. The 2021 cohort demonstrated truly innovative thinking and we are excited to see how they perform in front of our industry experts and investors."

For more information on Ithra and its programs, visit www.ithra.com.

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Contacts:

Domia Abdi 
domia.abdi@aramco.com

Hadeel Eisa
hadeel.eisa@aramco.com