OXAGON, the industrial city in the sea being built at Saudi Arabia's $500 billion futuristic city NEOM, has signed a preliminary agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources and the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones to support the transformation of the kingdom's manufacturing industry. The partnership will see OXAGON participate in the Future Factories Programme, which is Riyadh's initiative to remove barriers in industrial capabilities by creating an ecosystem backed by sustainable digital transformation and remodelling about 4,000 factories, OXAGON said in a statement on Friday.

The agreement further sets a framework to co-operate in the development and implementation of the Advanced and Clean Manufacturing Improvement Tool, which allows organisations to assess their readiness for change and move towards advanced manufacturing systems and processes.

The partnership is in line with Vision 2030, the kingdom's initiative to diversify from oil, and represents a "major milestone in realising shared ambitions to sustainably future-proof industries and drive economic diversification across the country", said Nadhmi Al Nasr, chief executive of NEOM.

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