The National Data Bank (NDB), part of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), issued yesterday a press release announcing that it is working to improve the quality of national data, promote data sharing among entities in the Kingdom, and contribute to building a data-driven digital economy. The bank serves as the primary source of data for national decision-making platforms. On this year's World Statistics Day, NDB continues its mission of providing data to public and private sectors, as well as to individuals, and supporting data analysis efforts. The bank operates through several digital platforms and products, including the Data Lake, Data Analytics Labs, Data Marketplace, National Data Catalog, and the Open Data Portal. Data Lake hosts information from over 325 government systems, with automatic and continuous updates from the original data sources. The goal is for Data Lake to become the unified data source in the Kingdom, streamlining efforts and reducing capital and operationa l costs associated with data exchange between entities. The Data Analytics Labs provide government employees with access to Data Lake data through a digital setting equipped with the latest data and AI technologies, enabling them to explore and analyze the data, and generate required reports under the governance of the National Data Management Office. The Data Marketplace platform automates data-sharing processes among entities in the Kingdom, enabling them to browse and subscribe to data-sharing services according to national data governance policies. With over 420 data-sharing services, the marketplace aims to optimize the efficiency of data sharing, encouraging entities to invest in data and generate revenue, thus contributing to building a data-driven economy in the Kingdom. The National Data Catalog documents metadata related to government systems, strategic and operational performance indicators, and data policies and standards. It currently includes metadata of over 370 government systems and more t han 2,000 data standards. The catalog enables users to search for, discover, and understand national data assets, accelerating data-analysis processes and implementing national data management policies. The Open Data Portal enables individuals, government, and non-government entities to publish and make available their open data to end users, such as entrepreneurs. This empowers users to build digital products using this data, contributing to the Kingdom's digital economy. The portal currently contains over 9,400 open data sets provided by various government entities, and can be accessed via: https://data.gov.sa. According to the release, NDB has achieved numerous local and international milestones through its platforms and products. It was awarded Best Technology Project in Saudi Arabia for 2022 by the Project Management Institute's Saudi branch and received the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2024 award in "the role of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for developmen t" category. Data and AI technologies, SDAIA said, play a pivotal role in supporting statisticians by making data analysis and forecasting more accurate and efficient. These technologies offer a range of applications, such as big data analysis, statistical model development, time series analysis, data classification, text analysis, and the enhancement of sampling algorithms, all of which enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of statisticians' work. Source: Saudi Press Agency
Sunday, April 26, 2026