Since its launch in Riyadh in 2022, LEAP has rapidly developed into Saudi Arabia’s flagship technology event and one of the world’s largest gatherings of the international technology industry.

Its expansion into Hong Kong through LEAP East marks an important moment — not only for the event itself, but for the international development of Saudi brands created during the Kingdom’s transformation.

For much of the Vision 2030 period, Saudi Arabia has focused on attracting the world’s leading companies, investors, events and talent to the Kingdom. LEAP East illustrates the other side of that equation: the ability to take a platform successfully created and established in Saudi Arabia into a major international market.

The distinction is significant. Successful economies do not only export products and capital. They also export brands, intellectual property, platforms and expertise. LEAP was created in Saudi Arabia, established its reputation and scale in Riyadh, and is now extending that brand internationally.

Hong Kong is a particularly significant location for that next chapter. As one of Asia’s leading financial and technology centres and an important gateway to mainland China and the Greater Bay Area, it provides LEAP with a platform at the intersection of capital, innovation and some of the world’s most important technology markets.

The inaugural LEAP East demonstrated the potential scale of that connection, attracting more than 450 exhibitors from over 30 countries and regions, with registrations exceeding 40,000.

For Inside Saudi, the significance is therefore broader than the international expansion of an event. LEAP East provides an early and highly visible example of a Saudi-created brand developing an international footprint of its own.

To explore what that means in practice, Inside Saudi spoke exclusively with Simon Chan, Chairman of Hong Kong Cyberport, about LEAP’s role in connecting the two markets, the technologies likely to shape Saudi Arabia’s next phase of growth, and the potential for a new technology and investment corridor between East Asia and the Middle East.

Inside Saudi: Since its launch, LEAP has grown rapidly as a global technology platform. What role do you believe it plays in attracting international innovation, investment and strategic partnerships to Saudi Arabia?

Simon Chan: Since its launch in 2022, LEAP has rapidly grown into one of the world’s most attended technology events and Saudi Arabia’s flagship tech conference brand. Its historic debut in Asia, held in Hong Kong, drew over 450 exhibitors from more than 30 countries and regions, with registrations exceeding 40,000.

This clearly demonstrates LEAP’s power to bring together international partners, and reflects Hong Kong’s innovation and technology sector’s determination and foresight in pursuing the Middle East market. It also underscores international recognition of Hong Kong’s strengths, further cementing the city’s position as a global convention hub and international innovation and technology centre.

This year, Cyberport led 18 startups to LEAP East in Hong Kong, setting up a joint pavilion showcasing innovative technology solutions spanning AI, FinTech, blockchain and other emerging technology areas. The pavilion attracted over 3,000 industry professionals from Hong Kong and overseas, while the exclusive investor pitching and matching sessions successfully drew over 50 investors and more than 80 attendees, facilitating over 100 investment and business matches and empowering Cyberport companies to expand into the Middle East and other international markets.

In 2024, Cyberport also led eight community companies to LEAP in Saudi Arabia, where Cyberport unicorn Animoca Brands signed a memorandum of understanding with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), a renowned national laboratory in Saudi Arabia, to jointly develop blockchain and AI projects advancing the Web3 ecosystem in Saudi Arabia.

This fully demonstrates that LEAP has become the most efficient gateway for international capital entering the Middle East, offering global tech unicorns and startups a fast track into the region’s largest economy, and enabling Cyberport and Hong Kong’s leading innovation and technology companies to quickly build substantive, long-term partnerships with Saudi Arabia.

Inside Saudi: Saudi Arabia has made artificial intelligence and digital innovation national priorities. Which technology trends do you expect will define future editions of LEAP, and which do you believe will have the greatest long-term impact on the Kingdom’s economy?

Simon Chan: LEAP’s strong brand draws top global CEOs, decision-makers and tech talent, giving Saudi Arabia lasting international technology influence.

Looking ahead, AI, green computing infrastructure, fintech, semiconductors and smart city IoT will be the core technologies driving both LEAP and Saudi Vision 2030’s long-term economic trajectory.

As global demand for computing power surges, Saudi Arabia’s strong energy advantages position it well to build large-scale computing centres, and LEAP provides a platform to connect this capacity with worldwide demand, providing strong support for its digital economy transformation.

As Hong Kong’s digital technology hub and AI accelerator, Cyberport brings together more than 2,400 companies, with strong technology capabilities across these emerging fields. This includes more than 440 fintech startups, closely aligned with Saudi Arabia’s ambition to develop a regional digital finance centre.

More than 30 Cyberport companies have expanded into the Middle East, including global digital asset company Hex Trust, the first virtual asset custodian to provide services in Dubai. Digital asset insurance provider AIFT has also secured approval from the UAE Central Bank to launch digital asset custody insurance after establishing investment and partnership arrangements with a Dubai-based insurance company.

Last year, Maphive Technology Limited signed an MOU with Arabian Business Machines Company to leverage indoor mapping and navigation technologies to support the digitalisation of infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.

The adoption of these technologies will have a lasting impact on economic diversification and high-quality transformation across the Middle East.

Inside Saudi: How do you see LEAP creating new opportunities for collaboration between Hong Kong’s innovation ecosystem and Saudi Arabia’s rapidly expanding technology sector?

Simon Chan: I see this developing in two important areas.

LEAP as a “Hub-to-Hub” bridge for capital and strategy

As the largest flagship technology event in the Middle East, LEAP is becoming a key strategic bridge connecting Hong Kong’s international innovation ecosystem with Saudi Arabia, facilitating high-level and regular “Hub-to-Hub” exchanges.

Hong Kong has long served as a “super connector” and “super value-adder” between the Chinese Mainland and international markets. It is also the world’s largest offshore RMB centre and a major private equity hub in Asia.

Through LEAP, Saudi sovereign wealth funds such as PIF and leading local enterprises can pursue global diversification, while international capital and tech companies can leverage Hong Kong’s mature financial infrastructure to enter the Saudi market.

This can enable more efficient two-way capital flows and create a high-value technology and capital corridor linking East Asia and the Middle East.

Cyberport as a two-way springboard for global expansion

As Hong Kong’s digital technology hub and AI accelerator, Cyberport now brings together more than 2,400 community companies, including major technology companies and unicorns from Hong Kong and overseas.

LEAP provides a platform for cutting-edge technologies to connect directly with the strong demand in the Middle East. More than 30 Cyberport enterprises have already expanded into the Middle East, covering AI, fintech, smart living and Web3.0 — areas that are critical to Saudi Arabia’s transformation. This is expected to drive further two-way collaboration and help grow the pie together.

Cyberport will continue to serve as a “super connector” between Hong Kong and the Belt and Road Initiative, including emerging Middle East markets.

We will further strengthen the green channels established with KACST and Dubai Future Foundation to bring more frontier R&D outcomes to major infrastructure projects in the Middle East.

At the same time, Cyberport will actively attract leading Saudi unicorns and tech companies to set up in Cyberport, using Hong Kong as a base to expand into the Greater Bay Area.

This deep ecosystem connectivity will link capital, technology and talent across both markets, creating complementary strengths and further reinforcing Hong Kong’s strategic position as an international innovation and technology hub.