Jeddah, On the sidelines of the forty-eighth Annual Meeting of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDBG) and during the work of the Private Sector Forum in its 11^th edition, which is hosted by the city of Jeddah from May 11^th to 13^th, the group honored the winners of the startup pitch competition after presenting their innovative projects and ideas, which were organized by Private Sector Institutions under the Bank Group, Islamic Corporation for Insurance of Investments and Export Credits (ICIEC), Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), and International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), with the support of the Private Sector Forum and the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) as well as the Economic Empowerment Department of the IsDB, and the local partners from government institutions and the private sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and all other member countries.

The competition included two tracks, the first for presenting ideas and the second for startups.

Saudi Arabia accounted for 67% of the innovative projects for the startup competition, which targets small and medium digital companies and startups looking to facilitate the provision of digital services and solutions across borders and various fields that are interoperable, while accelerating their digitally enabled growth. The startup pitch competition awarded innovators entrepreneurs and startups awards for developing solutions through products and services while making a positive impact on member countries.

The competition sought to enhance talents in member countries through social impact and digital initiatives that integrate cutting-edge technologies, startups, and creativity in the form of proposals that formulate solutions to various problems and opportunities in the region, and focused on three broad thematic areas, the first of which is (1) financial technology solutions that covers data flow solutions, cross border digital platform solutions, mobile technology, intellectual property management, cyber ​security, and the digital movement of creative arts. The second (2) is sustainability and supply chain solutions covering smart manufacturing, e-commerce, managing shared economies, digital supply chain optimization, logistics solutions for e-commerce companies, and agricultural technology (AgTech), and third (3) is the field of human development and service social solutions and covers digital health solutions and e-learning platforms.

At the end of the competiiton, the winners were honored in the presence of a large audience.