Yazeed Alghamdi, director of emerging technologies at ROSHN Group, speaks to Gulf Business
Saudi Arabia’s real estate sector is entering a decisive digital phase, with PropTech solutions, AI-enabled services, and data-driven community experiences now central to how developers design and operate urban environments. Within this fast-evolving landscape, ROSHN Group has positioned innovation not as a support function, but as a strategic pillar shaping the future of its developments. At Cityscape Global 2025, Yazeed Alghamdi, director of emerging technologies at ROSHN Group, shared how the ROSHN Hackathon has become one of the organisation’s most influential platforms for advancing technology-driven real estate solutions.
Now in its third edition, the hackathon has grown into a national PropTech platform that attracts students, startups, innovators, and established companies—all contributing fresh ideas to improve the built environment. “We proudly launched the third version of ROSHN Hackathon this year. It’s a PropTech platform where innovators, students, and companies participate to bring on new ideas into the field of real estate,” said Alghamdi.
What began as a creative experiment has now evolved into a structured innovation engine embedded within ROSHN’s long-term digital strategy. Alghamdi emphasised that the initiative is tied closely to the company’s innovation arm, describing it as much more than a showcase of concepts. “Innovation is not just an enabler, but a strategic pillar today. And ROSHN is leading into it, into bringing new innovation technologies for the real estate, for the end user, and for the community,” he noted.
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Scaling incentives and participation
Participant momentum has grown rapidly over the last two years. ROSHN has awarded SAR2.5m in prize funding across earlier editions, with this year adding another SAR1.3m to support winning ideas. “This year we’ll be giving 1.3 million Saudi Riyal. And this is actually an element of the past two editions where we have given SAR2.5m and also over 2,000 submissions we have seen over the course of the past two years,” Alghamdi explained.
The funding demonstrates ROSHN’s ambition to turn innovation into implementation. The company views the prize pool not as a symbolic gesture but as seed support for concepts that can be integrated into real projects, communities, or digital systems.
A wider innovation scope with new tracks
Each edition of the hackathon introduces new problem statements and sector priorities. The 2025 programme reflects the broader direction of the kingdom’s real estate and PropTech ecosystem, aligning with Cityscape Global’s themes. “Every edition has its own theme. This year it comes with five different tracks supporting the theme of Cityscape Global. So we’re looking at AI and automation. We’re looking at digital experience and resident. We’re looking at IoT and sustainability. And finally, we’re looking at open digital solutions,” Alghamdi concluded.
