Building Tomorrow, Today: The Transformative Power of Innovation in Human-Centric Development

By Yassen Kattan, Chief Strategy and Corporate Affairs Officer, ROSHN Group

Saudi Arabia is undertaking one of the most ambitious transformations in modern history. Guided by Vision 2030, we are not simply expanding our cities, we are shaping a new futuredefined by economic resilience, environmental sustainability,and an unparalleled quality of life for our citizens.

Delivering at this scale requires more than traditional approaches. It demands innovation. At ROSHN Group, innovation has been a key pillar of our strategy and integral to our ethos from the very beginning. We envisioned a new model of human-centric, integrated community living and we brought it to life within just a few short years. Today, we have more than 3,000 families experiencing this elevated standard of living in SEDRA community, with new homes being completed almost daily.

When we launched our ROSHNEXT innovation program this year, we sought to further harness the power of innovation that was taking place across the company and amplify itstransformative power to drive impact for our business and our stakeholders. This year alone, we have explored more than 100 new innovative solutions and initiated multiple R&D programs with key partners, both locally and globally. This reflects our belief that innovation is not an auxiliary function, but a strategic engine for value creation.

This core belief drove the success of our inaugural ROSHNEXT Innovation Summit, an event that brought together over 300 experts from government, academia, and industry to chart the course for the next era of real estate development. The discussions explored the concepts that will enable us to move beyond conventional practices and envision communities that are truly human-centric, sustainable, and technologically advanced.

A defining moment of the ROSHNEXT Summit was the final judging for the third edition of our Visionaries program, which we view as an incubator of disruption in the industry. This year,we saw a strong increase in participation, including over 50% from external innovators, proving that the passion for shaping Saudi Arabia’s future is shared across the Kingdom.

We were honored to award over SAR 1 million in prizes to 18winning teams across the Venture Builder, Incubator, and Accelerator tracks with support from our partners Wa’ed by aramco and Dhahran Techno Valley. By providing comprehensive training and development opportunities, we are also going beyond just funding these ideas. Visionaries is part of our concerted effort to nurture both employees and external entrepreneurs as part of our commitment to economic diversification, directly supporting the ambitious goals of Vision 2030 by fostering a dynamic innovation economy.

The success of the ROSHNEXT Summit, following our third annual ROSHN Hackathon, reinforced ROSHN Group’s standing as the national champion of destination real estate, with innovation at the heart of our long-term strategy.

Innovation is a continual pursuit of excellence and progress. By embracing its transformative power, we advance the objectives of Vision 2030 to enhance the quality of life, catalyzing economic diversification with new business opportunities. Thefuture of Saudi Arabia is being built today, brick by innovative brick.