National Information Center

The National Information Center (NIC) is the entity responsible for providing digital solutions to government entities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Moreover, it oversees the preservation of the state's digital assets, enhancing their efficiency and security. It supports decision-makers by offering future-oriented insights and analyses based on artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

The center serves as the operational arm of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) and works towards advancing various sectors in the Kingdom. It stands as the primary provider of AI-driven insights and analyses, being one of the three arms under SDAIA.

The National Information Center was established during the reign of King Khalid Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 1979, originally under the name Computer Center. After a year, its name was changed to the General Administration of Central Information. Then, in 1982, the name was further modified to the National Information Center.

The main headquarters of the National Information Center is located in the capital city, Riyadh. It has several branches in cities across the Kingdom. The center is responsible for various tasks and responsibilities, mainly contributing to achieving digital transformation in the Kingdom, safeguarding national data and ensuring its privacy, integrating government digital assets, utilizing AI technologies in government analytics platforms, forecasting the future, and generating insights from government data to provide appropriate support for state priorities. Additionally, it operates a national platform for government cloud services.

The National Information Center operates and develops several government platforms, including the Estishraf Platform, Absher Platform, Efaa Platform, National Data Bank, Deem Cloud, Unified National Access Platform (Nafath), and Naba Platform.

The National Data Bank serves various roles, including: improving the quality of national data and enhancing its sharing among entities, contributing to the establishment of a data-driven digital economy in the Kingdom, and providing a system of electronic services, which include:

More than forty government entities are hosted in the data lake.

Data from over 240 government systems have been integrated into the data lake.

More than 250 data-sharing services have been published through the digital data marketplace.

Over 130 government systems have been added to the national data catalog.

The National Information Center contributes to enhancing the knowledge capabilities of government sector employees through specialized training programs in the field of information technology and computer science provided by the Information Technology Institute. The institute serves as the academic arm of the center.