The spotlight is on NEOM, a futuristic urban area project envisioned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
On the 24th, Flitto had the honor to be one of the select attendees who were personally invited to join “Discover NEOM: Private Meeting in Seoul.” Flitto CEO Simon Lee and Communication Director Chungwon Park attended the private meeting.
During the meeting, Nadhmi Al-Nasr, CEO of NEOM project, and other major project executives of the futuristic city shared the vision and major achievements of the mega project.
Data partnerships and investment opportunities were also some of the central discussion points, and one Flitto was delighted to address.
Flitto’s premium AI data brand Flitto DataLab is currently one of the key players in Korea’s data industry.
Flitto DataLab now seeks to embark on a significant venture into the Middle East through its participation in the “Building Arabic Data for AI Learning” project.
The exclusive private meeting for Discover NEOM Tour in Seoul, Korea was the perfect opportunity for Flitto DataLab to move partnerships forward.
What is NEOM?
NEOM, meaning “new future,” is an ambitious and innovative flagship project of Vision 2030 envisioned by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.
The mega project operates on a budget of $500 billion. It spans 26,500 square kilometers, estimated to be around 44 times the size of Seoul.
What sets NEOM apart is its ambitious vision to balance futuristic plans and advanced technology with Arabian heritage and hospitality. Ultimately, the urban project aims to encompass a thriving home for those seeking unique experiences as well as a tourist destination.
The city’s location is an important factor in making itself accessible for tourists. Its geography offers direct access to international markets. This will greatly assist NEOM in achieving its target of one million visitors by 2025.
Moreover, NEOM is also committed to sustainable living. It aims to fully leverage renewable energy, preserving 95% of the natural environment.
What makes the Discover NEOM Tour in Korea so significant?
Seoul, Korea hosted Asia’s first exhibition of NEOM, signifying the longtime friendship and partnership between the two countries.
The exhibition in Seoul showcases the philosophy of NEOM. It highlights the replicas of its mega-projects including The Line, a zero-carbon city designed to enhance the lives of future residents through walkability and health-focused amenities.
The ambitious and innovative project will cover various sectors like smart towns, cities, ports, airports, industrial areas, research centers, sports, entertainment venues, and even a ski resort, making it potent for potential partnerships.
Flitto’s Arabic data building project
The Arabic language is highly complex and sophisticated, making it one of the most challenging languages to learn.
Arabic is the fourth most spoken language in the world. However, the currently available amount of Arabic text data is far less than ideal compared to languages such as English. One of Flitto’s current major objectives is to address and resolve this issue.
A notable portion of the private meeting on the 24th focused on Flitto’s AI data building technology and the ongoing “Arabic data building project,” a focal point for the company.
CEO Lee introduced Flitto DataLab’s scalable multilingual data-building initiatives powered by 13 million users and collaborators.
These include Flitto Arcade, a game-based text data collection platform. The meeting also discussed about Flitto Place, a multilingual QR translation service. The latter service is optimized for collecting and refining OCR image data.
Subsequently, CEO Lee held fruitful bilateral meetings with prominent figures such as Andreas Cangellaris, the Founding President of NEOM U, Denis Hickey, the Chief Development Officer of The Line, and Niall Gibbons, the Head of Tourism at NEOM.
An interesting fact about CEO Lee is that he actually lived in the Middle East region in his younger years, which greatly explains his enthusiasm in their language and culture on a personal level.
CEO Simon Lee commented, “We’re honored to engage directly with the NEOM team through this tour. The timing is opportune as well, as Flitto is currently focused on building an extensive scale of Arabic text data as well as Arabic image data to help maximize the AI potential in the region.”
He added, “As a leading language AI data company, we hope to unlock exciting opportunities with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and foster technological advancements in the region’s AI landscape.”
Summing up…
Discover NEOM Tour in Seoul, Korea was the perfect opportunity for Flitto DataLab to share exciting visions in line with the futuristic urban city project of Saudi Arabia.
Until the day no language or dialect is left underrepresented, Flitto DataLab will continue its venture in scaling language data.