Medina has made significant global progress in the 2025 IMD Smart City Index, climbing seven spots to rank 67th globally, in a move that reflects the progress Madinah is making in adopting smart solutions and developing a sustainable and integrated urban environment.
This achievement is an extension of the national drive to build smart cities that contribute to improving quality of life and enhancing urban competitiveness, in line with the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which places digital transformation and innovation at the heart of comprehensive development strategies.
His Excellency the Governor of Madinah Region and CEO of the Madinah Development Authority, Engineer Fahd bin Mohammed Al-Baleeshi, expressed his deepest gratitude and appreciation to the wise leadership —may God support them—for their continuous support in enabling the Kingdom’s cities to rise in global competitiveness indices, in light of the ambitious vision that has made Saudi cities a model for smart and sustainable transformation.
Al-Baleeshi emphasized that the progress achieved by Madinah in the IMD Index is the result of fruitful collaborative efforts among government agencies, expressing his thanks and appreciation to the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) and all government sectors for their efforts in supporting digital initiatives and achieving technical and human integration to reach this national milestone, He noted that this achievement serves as a motivating milestone to continue joint efforts and accelerate the pace of digital transformation in Madinah, making it more prepared, sustainable, and innovative in serving its residents and visitors from around the world.
It is worth noting that the IMD Smart City Index is one of the most prominent global indices used to measure cities" performance in the areas of smart cities and digital transformation, based on a set of dimensions related to economic, technology, government services, and quality of life. It is published by the Competitiveness Center of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland. Six Saudi cities excelled in this year’s index: Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, Madinah, Al-Ula, and Al-Khobar. This reflects the national commitment to supporting the smart cities initiative and underscores the Kingdom’s leading global position in driving an urban model based on technology, innovation, and sustainability.
