What does NEOM stand for?
NEOM means “New Future”. The acronym NEOM was first used publicly with the meaning “New Future” on 24 October 2017, when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the launch of a project involving the construction of a futuristic $500 billion city that will be built to run entirely on alternative energy.
Who is investing in NEOM?
NEOM will be backed by more than $500 billion over the coming years by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, local as well as international investors”, said HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Chairman of the Public Investment Fund.
Neom has a website and video called “whatistheline”. It says things like:
“Contemporary cities couldn’t cope with growth. What if there was a city without cars. What if there was a city without streets. What if a city innovates in the public space. What is a city was built around nature. What if a city had everything within a 5 minute walk.” It says that NEOM will have advanced technology, innovative service grid, it will be fully sustainable, with new services and AI driven. It will have a “spine” which includes a 170k KM long straight line where “sectors” connect “modules”.
NEOM will provide a ubiquitous cognitive environment where humans and machines will live in harmony, as peers, to continually reinvent themselves through the application of advanced and future technologies. Our future will be shaped by exciting technologies that will blur the gap between man and machine; artificially intelligent software, internet of things that can sense human needs, seamless transfer between physical and virtual worlds and everyday robots that create more time to live.
NEOM’s climate provides unrivalled complementary solar and wind profile and through competitively priced renewable energy, we will build new industries and drive the next wave of the energy transition by producing green hydrogen (H2).
NEOM is a bold and audacious dream. It is a vision of what a New Future might look like (in fact, NEOM means, “new future”). It’s an attempt to do something that’s never been done before and it comes at a time when the world needs fresh thinking and new solutions. NEOM is being built on the Red Sea in northwest Saudi Arabia as a living laboratory – a place where entrepreneurship and innovation will chart the course for this New Future. NEOM will be a destination, a home for people who dream big and want to be part of building a new model for sustainable living, working and prospering.
NEOM will include towns and cities, ports and enterprise zones, research centers, sports and entertainment venues, and tourist destinations. It will be the home and workplace for more than a million citizens from around the world.
What NEOM will do
NEOM will build a 100% renewable energy system and establish a world-class customer experience. It will develop a smart transmission and distribution network with the latest and most advanced technologies. We will strive to become the world leading in commercializing clean energy intensive industries, such as Green Hydrogen.
Using water in a sustainable manner is a key component of NEOM’s livability goals. NEOM’s water will be reuse and desalinated using renewable energy to ensure zero CO2 emissions, and zero brine effluent discharge to preserve the pristine environment. Full seawater processing will produce minerals and chemicals from the brine.
All wastewater in NEOM will be fully processed to generate energy, fertilizer and reusable fresh water for irrigation. This will achieve zero waste and a full circular economy for water and wastewater.
NEOM’s water distribution network will be completely connected through advanced IoW (Internet of Water) infrastructure to ensure minimal water loss. It will be a reference to share with the world, putting NEOM at the forefront of water technology by building interoperable, modular systems.
