The Global CIO Forum (GCF) has officially entered into a strategic partnership with the Digital Economy Center Riyadh to co-host the upcoming Government Tech Summit in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in November 2025. The announcement was made during the Saudi edition of the CIO 200 Summit, marking a landmark collaboration to accelerate government innovation through emerging technologies.

As a cornerstone of this partnership, GCF and the Digital Economy Center also launched the ‘Pioneers in E-Services in the Kingdom’ Awards at the CIO 200 Summit, a first-of-its-kind initiative celebrating outstanding digital government projects that utilize cutting-edge technology to enhance public services and citizen engagement.

The initiative was formally unveiled in a joint launch by Dr. Hasan Al Ammer, Superintendent of the Digital Economy Center, and Ronak Samantaray, CEO of GEC. A symbolic handshake between the two leaders signified the start of a powerful alliance focused on promoting government excellence and digital transformation in alignment with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

This partnership marks a deepening of GCF’s presence in the region and highlights its ongoing commitment to supporting digital advancement and public sector modernization in Saudi Arabia.

“We are very pleased to partner with Global CIO Forum. We are very confident of this partnership based on the scale of this event where are are present, that is the Global CIO 200 Saudi Arabia edition, and the large number of top CIOs and other executives present at this event. We look forward to taking this partnership forward and the Government Tech Summit later in the year,” said Dr. Hasan.

Tushar Sahoo, Founder of GCF added: “Empowering public institutions to better serve citizens through digital excellence is at the heart of this collaboration. The launch of the ‘Pioneers in E-Services’ awards highlights our dedication to recognizing impactful innovation in the Kingdom.”