4IR Network Projects

Quantum technology is moving from research into real-world use across cybersecurity, manufacturing, finance, and energy. As this shift happens, countries are preparing by updating policies and building the right infrastructure. Saudi Arabia is leading this effort as the first country to pilot the World Economic Forum's Quantum Economy Blueprint - identifying high-impact use cases and putting in place rules to ensure safe and responsible adoption.In 2026, C4IR Saudi Arabia will continue this work into Phase 3, focusing on preparing regulations, supporting adoption across sectors, and coordinating efforts nationally in line with Vision 2030.
Saudi Arabia | Government, Energy, Technology, IT and Communications (ICT)
Quantum Economy Project
The PeerLink for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) project supports SMEs in improving their productivity, competitiveness, and innovation capacity by accelerating the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies.The project provides a shared “sandbox” environment where SMEs can safely test and validate new technologies, ideas, and digital solutions before implementation. SMEs can also access expert support, learn from peers, build strong collaboration networks.A central knowledge platform collects and shares best practices and lessons learned, ensuring long-term knowledge sharing across SMEs.
Saudi Arabia | Energy, Technology, IT and Communications (ICT)
Peerlink Sandbox for SMEs
This pilot project tests the “AI Assessment Scale,” which helps teachers and students understand when and how to use AI in learning.The goal is to reduce confusion and inconsistency in how AI is used in classrooms. The project will create clear guidelines for teachers, supervisors, and students, and develop practical training materials on responsible AI use.
Saudi Arabia | Education, Technology, IT and Communications (ICT)
Responsible AI in Education
This project supports the energy transition by helping the mining sector adopt new technologies faster.It builds on an existing framework to create a practical toolkit that helps assess technologies and guide their scale-up. The project will work with stakeholders to map needs, encourage collaboration, and align innovations with industry demands.The toolkit will be tested through a pilot project, and key insights will be shared globally to encourage wider adoption.
Saudi Arabia | Energy, Energy Technologies, Mining & Metals, Technology
The Critical Minerals Innovation Project
This ongoing work focuses on bioconvergence, bringing together biology, engineering, and data science to develop solutions that can support industrial transformation and sustainability. Building on Israel’s strong startup and research ecosystem, and with support from the World Economic Forum, the initiative explores how bio-innovation can be translated into practical industrial and environmental impact. As part of the next phase, it may include virtual training and entrepreneurship activities to help companies and innovators build relevant capabilities and scale new bio-based technologies.
Israel | Health, Technology, IT and Communications (ICT)
Bioconvergence Training & Entrepreneurship Programme
This project addresses desertification using Israel’s expertise in dry-region technologies like water reuse, drip irrigation, and climate-resilient agriculture.It aims to turn this knowledge into global cooperation models involving policy, innovation, and financing.The project will produce a global report, build international partnerships, and promote Israeli solutions worldwide.
Israel | Energy & utilities, Technology
Defining Global Cooperation Models for Desertification & Climate Adaptation Technologies
The Oman Intelligence Hub is a strategic intelligence platform aligned with the National Programme for the Digital Economy to share knowledge, best practices, and insights between government, industry, and academia.It builds on a structured set of multiple transformation maps to provide a shared, evidence-based view of priorities, trends, and interdependencies across programmes, addressing the fragmentation and ensuring alignment with the Oman Vision 2040. It aims to improve collaboration and speed up the adoption of new technologies, especially in public services.The Hub will serve as a decision-support tool for government stakeholders, enabling more coordinated policy design, identification of cross-programme opportunities, and development of short- and long-term recommendations. Outputs (e.g. policy briefs, strategic insights) are intended to directly inform national planning and implementation.For more info contact: Amal Said Ali AL Mashayakhi - Senior Cybersecurity Innovation Specialist at OCERT.
Oman | Government, Technology
Oman Intelligence Hub
AI MINDS is the Forum’s global platform to identify and scale impactful AI use cases across industries and regions. C4IR Oman, with support from the Forum’s Centre for AI Excellence, can play a role in identifying, shaping, and submitting relevant use cases from Oman aligned with national priorities. Oman is already engaged through onboarding and participation in the Impact Council, creating an opportunity to both contribute to and learn from global applications of AI.
Oman | Technology, IT and Communications (ICT)
AI MINDS Collaborator
This project supports manufacturing companies, including SMEs, in building the capabilities needed to accelerate their end-to-end digital transformation journey. It inspires and incentivizes transformation through a community learning journey that includes events, seminars, and webinars showcasing cutting-edge technologies, innovations, and industry best practices, leveraging the World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network initiative.It also develops a national industrial transformation framework, building on the World Economic Forum's Global Lighthouse Operating System initiative to guide and support the digital transformation of the manufacturing sector. 
Qatar | Technology
Accelerating Inclusive Technology Adoption in Manufacturing
This project strengthens Qatar’s digital trade systems and supports SMEs. It builds on a global initiative that creates trusted digital trade routes. The project will focus on one product transported by air to map how trade processes work today.Based on this, it will design a system to connect trade data with financial institutions, helping SMEs access faster financing.
Qatar | Technology, IT and Communications (ICT)
TradeTech Programme
This workstream strengthens Medellín’s role as a GovTech hub by advancing practical collaboration on digital government, knowledge exchange, and adaptive regulation.It combines Medellín’s contribution to the GovTech Intelligence Hub with a collaboration with the Global Regulatory Innovation Platform (GRIP), bringing together local stakeholders and global experts in a series of exchanges and a working session to identify priority regulatory challenges, learn from international experience, and co-develop context-specific solutions that can improve the day-to-day lives of Medellín’s residents. The goal is to move from exchanges and participation to visible results: stronger global positioning for Medellín, practical regulatory insights for local use, and clearer pathways toward pilots, partnerships, and policy-relevant outputs.
Colombia | Government, Technology, IT and Communications (ICT)
Global Regulatory Innovation Platform Collaboration
The project aims to support industrial decarbonisation by developing the NextGen Industry Cluster in the Sumgait Industrial Park as a TIC pilot, demonstrating scalable solutions for green and digital transformation.It will deploy AI-enabled energy efficiency solutions across industrial operations and buildings to reduce emissions and improve performance.The Centre will contribute through expertise in digital innovation and energy systems, supporting design, implementation, and scaling of AI-based solutions across industrial clusters.
Azerbaijan | Energy & utilities, Energy, Energy Technologies, Technology
Transitioning Industrial and AI in Energy
The project creates a knowledge platform linking global and national priorities on industrial decarbonisation and digital transformation. The Centre contributes through its expertise and leadership of Azerbaijan’s National Digital Economy Strategy (2025, with WEF).It aims to provide strategic intelligence on industrial and energy transition trends to support evidence-based decision-making.Expected results include engagement of 5 universities and research centres, delivery of stakeholder sessions with WEF, and a 70% increase in citation rates of Azerbaijani research within one year.
Azerbaijan | Energy, Energy Technologies
Strategic Intelligence for Digital Transformation
TradeTech initiative explores how digital tools can make trade faster, more efficient and more accessible for businesses. Building on Azerbaijan’s existing digital infrastructure and its strategic role in regional trade, the project looks at practical ways to improve trade documentation, customs processes, trade finance and data exchange across the trade ecosystem.The initiative aims to support a more connected and innovation friendly environment for digital trade. It will identify policy and regulatory actions that can help reduce paperwork, simplify processes, improve risk management and support small and medium sized enterprises in accessing trade finance.The project will result in a white paper setting out practical recommendations and near-term opportunities for Azerbaijan’s TradeTech landscape. The analysis draws on stakeholder consultations, ecosystem input and international examples, with feedback from founders, educators, financial institutions, public sector representatives and other trade and technology participants.
Azerbaijan | Technology, IT and Communications (ICT)
TradeTech Gap Analysis
This project aims to identify the technologies most likely to influence space exploration and the space economy by 2035 and accelerate the development and commercialization of high-potential space technologies.The project will evaluate the feasibility, maturity, potential barriers to deployment and economic impact of these technologies, including their potential to drive growth and create jobs in the space sector. To support scaling, it will develop strategies to advance Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) and help move innovations closer to market.A key component is the creation of a dedicated marketplace platform that connects technology developers with investors. The project will also engage stakeholders from government, industry, and research, and deliver outputs such as fact sheets of five priority technology areas published in June 2026 can be found here, Space Technology Report, the marketplace platform, and targeted workshops to promote collaboration and investment.
Saudi Arabia | Government, Aerospace, Technology
Space Technology Foresight Initiative
This project addresses the growing risks caused by space debris and orbital collisions. The report published in January 2026 carried out detailed analyses, including projections of debris growth and assessments of the economic impact of space congestion.Based on these insights, the project will identify key challenges in space traffic management and debris mitigation and further develop practical solutions across technology, regulation, and financing, along with clear policy recommendations for stakeholders.The project will conduct follow-up activities to promote its findings, encourage collaboration, and support coordinated global action.
Saudi Arabia | Aerospace
Space Debris
This project explores the intersection between space technologies and life sciences. It focuses on how expertise from healthcare, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals can support human spaceflight and improve healthcare on Earth.The initiative will bring together space operators, health institutions, regulators, and industry actors to identify shared standards, priority use cases, and practical pathways for adopting space-based biomedical innovations.It aims to strengthen collaboration across sectors and accelerate the development and application of these innovations in both space and terrestrial healthcare systems.
Saudi Arabia | Technology
Space and Life Sciences Convergence Initiative
This project supports Malaysia’s transition to a low-carbon and digital economy by developing industrial clusters under the Transitioning Industrial Clusters (TIC) framework. These clusters act as hubs for collaboration, innovation, and investment, helping strengthen value chains and improve industrial competitiveness.Following the launch of TIC in Bintulu, the initiative aims to expand to other regions such as Johor, Penang, and Selangor. This expansion will help scale clean energy adoption, digital transformation, and economic growth.Alongside this, the Innovation Challenge connects industrial companies with startups to solve real-world challenges. Using the UpLink platform, it promotes global collaboration, supports technology adoption, and showcases innovative solutions that contribute to net-zero goals and automation.
Malaysia | Energy, Just Transition
TIC and Innovation Challenge
The Foresight Advisory Panel supports the mid-term review of Malaysia’s National Fourth Industrial Revolution Policy (N4IRP) by providing forward-looking guidance on emerging technologies and stress-testing the country’s digital strategy across multiple futures. The panel aims to make Malaysia’s digital policies more resilient, adaptive, and aligned with a rapidly changing technological landscape, while encouraging innovation and early risk management.
Malaysia | Government, Technology
Foresight Advisory Panel
The Global GovTech Economic Impact Index (GGEII) is designed as a practical tool to measure the economic impact of GovTech. It provides a standardized and internationally comparable framework for assessing how investments in GovTech generate economic value and broader societal benefits.While existing international indices measure digital maturity, readiness, and service availability, they provide limited evidence of the economic and societal value created through GovTech investments. The GGEII addresses this gap by shifting the focus from measuring digital capabilities to measuring their real-world impact.The Index aims to support evidence-based policymaking, strengthen the case for continued investment in GovTech, and enable governments to benchmark and compare the economic and societal returns of their digital investments across countries.
Ukraine | Technology
Global GovTech Economic Impact Index

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