Here at NEOM Directory headquarters we've watched the NEOM project go from an idea on paper to holes in the ground and actual construction in a few short years. It's remarkable what has been planned and then started and we are proud to be documenting the progress and helping companies connect with each other.

THE LINE was the first such project within the NEOM project but others have much more commercial potential than living space. OXAGON is a deepwater port located in the crossroads of much of the worlds trade and being built from the ground up means it can be built using the latest technologies.

The other projects up the Aqaba coast are largely hospitality based and can be self-generating in terms of revenue. Built it and they will come is something often said about innovative hospitality projects.

One of the repeating criticisms of NEOM is that it plans to use "technology that isn't even available yet". Robots butlers, flying cars and AI.

Isn't that the whole point of projects like this though? What would it be like if we only used existing technology instead of innovating? Sticks, rocks and loincloths. Mud huts, caves and superstition. Some peoples are still there.

No, we need to move foward. If it means upsetting a few conventions and traditions, then so be it.  Sometimes progress has to be grabbed and pulled along.

We'll look back upon NEOM as the first of many such projects which lead the way.

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