COUNTRY FOCUS: KUWAIT
“
KUWAIT’S POPULATION
AND ORGANISATIONS HAVE A STRONG
UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONCEPTS
OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND
DIGITISATION OF THE FIELD.
company, SAP is co-innovating with Kuwait’s
largest and most innovative public and
private sector organisations.
For example, petrochemicals producer
EQUATE is undergoing its next phase of
digital transformation with SAP. EQUATE is
moving business applications from the SAP
HANA in-memory platform to the SAP HANA
Enterprise Cloud platform, which can optimise
costs, scale up to meet future needs and
deliver innovative digital business models.
How are technology companies
investing in Kuwait?
Sam Taha, COO SAP Kuwait
strong demand for solutions running on
our SAP HANA in-memory platform, SAP
S/4HANA real-time business suite and SAP
Leonardo digital innovation system.
SAP is an active participant in Kuwait’s
major technology events, including KIACS
cybersecurity and oil and gas exhibitions,
where we develop our customer and
channel partner ecosystem, and exchange
best practices with Kuwait’s leading
innovative organisations. With digital transformation changing the
way businesses operate in Kuwait we spoke to
Maged Elserougy, General Manager – Kuwait,
Schneider Electric, to assess its impact.
With more than three-quarters of Middle
East and North Africa’s digitally-leading
organisations investing in big data and
the Internet of Things in 2018, according
to the SAP and Oxford Economics Digital
Transformation Executive Study, we are
supporting Kuwait’s organisations to adopt
innovations across artificial intelligence,
machine learning, blockchain and the
Internet of Things. In Kuwait, we are seeing Kuwait Vision 2035 is outlining a bold
agenda for economic, societal and
environmental transformation, economic
growth and diversification, and job creation.
Nationwide digital transformation will be
the foundation for the country’s smart and
connected future.
INTELLIGENTCIO
With Smart Cities growing, industry
reports show that buildings account for
about 40% of CO 2 emissions worldwide.
As a result, Kuwait’s developers and
building managers have an enormous
opportunity to become digital to
optimise costs, reduce emissions and
enhance daily lives.
What are some high-profile
examples of energy digitisation
in Kuwait?
Kuwait is a significant growth market for SAP
and is a key part of our Middle East North
strategic investment plan. We are currently
planning the launch of our dedicated Kuwait
office, supporting further growth for our staff.
Our training and development institute is
working with our University Alliance partners
to train Kuwaiti nationals on the digital skills
needed for the workforce of the future.
54
energy efficiency and digitisation of the
field. Currently, Kuwait’s public, private,
and academic sectors are coming
together to update the country’s
existing regulations in energy efficiency,
which would boost Kuwait’s market for
the most advanced digital platforms for
energy efficiency.
MAGED ELSEROUGY, GENERAL
Maged
Elserougy,
General Manager
–
MANAGER
– KUWAIT,
SCHNEI-
Kuwait,
Schneider
Electric
DER ELECTRIC
How is Kuwait Vision 2035 impacting
energy efficiency technology?
Kuwait’s population and organisations have
a strong understanding of the concepts of
The Ministry of Electricity and Water is
driving a nationwide smart metering
project, with Schneider Electric, Ericsson
and Zain. We are building the technology
infrastructure for about 800,000 smart
meters across the country. These smart
meters will enable citizens to monitor
their utilities usage in real-time, leading
to enhance energy efficiency.
Kuwait Oil Company is also piloting a
meters project with real-time insights
utilities usage, which aims to support its
2030 Strategy of business innovation,
optimise operations and energy
efficiency, and transform corporate
culture and productivity. We have
successfully completed the first phase
of 65 meters. Another 2,000 meters
will come on board, reaching a total of
8,000 meters.
Schneider Electric is driving digital
innovation across Kuwait’s upstream,
midstream and downstream sectors.
In upstream markets, we are deploying
digital oilfields, focusing on full
automation and control of onshore
oil wells and pumps to optimise costs,
production and safety.
Schneider Electric is working closely with
the Kuwait Oil Company on smart training
through virtual reality environments,
including automation of the guiding of
www.intelligentcio.com