VIENNA, June 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The municipality of Madinah, in Saudi Arabia, has achieved what many other municipalities have sought, not always successfully: the perfect combination of identity, sustainability and progress. And has shared the secret in Vienna, where Madinah Region Development Authority (MDA) participated throughout Raseel Plaform as a keystone sponsor in the 9th FIWARE Global Summit, from Data to Value, on 12-13 June 2023.
Madinah official, keynote speaker at Fiware Summit 2023
Powered by the FIWARE Foundation, the non-profit organization that encourages the adoption of open standards using open source technologies, for the development of smart solutions, Raseel Platform is the first smart cities platform in Saudi Arabia.
This is not just about technology: designed for the city of Madinah, the second holy city in the world for Muslims, the platform was conceived with the aim of improving the quality of life of its inhabitants and visitors, more than 9 million each year.
“Adopting open-data and open-source technologies, Madinah Smart City Program shifted from supply-driven to demand-driven implementation of technological solutions. We strongly believe that smart cities are about people, not technologies”, says Abdulrahman Ibrahim, Chief Data and Innovation Officer at Madinah Regional Development Authority.
The platform focuses on facilitating the integration of city management for the governmental departments, improving the residents’ quality of life, enriching experiences for visitors, guaranteeing low business entry cost for SMEs, and simplifying coding for solution developers.
As the brain ensures the functioning of all body parts, Raseel works as an innovative, interoperable platform that provides centralized solutions for smart cities. It focuses on enabling seamless exchange of data and essential delivery of services, covering both public and private needs for informed insight and optimized efficiency.
“Technically, we selected FIWARE as a partner for the interoperability, scalability, openness, security, community support and modular architecture”, explains Ibrahim.
In Vienna, the Madinah Smart City Program (MSCP) presented the most prominent smart solutions and current projects of Madinah’s Raseel platform, advance the development and implementation of existing solutions, and participate in the creation and dissemination of open-source technologies.
Madinah City has become the first city in the world to hold FIWARE platinum membership, and to obtain a seat in the Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Raseel is an Arabic noun derived from the word “Messenger”. It also means “Fresh Water” that flows seamlessly.
