Mindsets Client Hail Achieves Global Smart City Recognition, Ranking 33rd Worldwide in the IMD Smart City Index 2026

Firm’s integrated smart city framework enables Saudi Arabia’s northern gateway to enter global rankings on its first appearance, reinforcing Mindsets’ position as a leading strategic partner for urban transformation in the Kingdom

Ha’il, Saudi Arabia, 30 March 2026 — Mindsets, a leading investment and advisory firm, today announced that its client, the city of Hail, has secured 33rd place among 148 cities worldwide in the IMD Smart City Index 2026. The milestone marks Hail’s first-ever entry into one of the world’s most authoritative urban development benchmarks and positions the city alongside established global capitals as a model for citizen-centered smart city development.

Working as a strategic advisor to the Municipality of Hail, Mindsets developed an integrated smart city framework aligned with the evaluation dimensions of the IMD Smart City Index: health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities, and governance. The framework unified the city’s diverse modernization initiatives within a single strategic architecture, enabling clearer prioritization, stronger institutional coordination, and performance measurement tied directly to citizens’ lived experience.

The achievement is particularly notable given Hail’s profile. A mid-sized city of approximately 500,000 residents in northern Saudi Arabia, Hail is historically celebrated as the cradle of Arab generosity and home to the UNESCO World Heritage Rock Art site spanning nearly 10,000 years. Its emergence among the world’s top-ranked smart cities demonstrates that innovation-led urban transformation is not exclusive to mega-cities—a narrative with powerful implications for sustainable development across the GCC and emerging markets.

Under the Mindsets framework, Hail’s transformation has consistently placed residents at its center. The city has advanced digital municipal services, strengthened healthcare and public safety systems, expanded economic opportunity, and invested in environmental sustainability. The strategic architecture translates these efforts into an interconnected operating model with defined performance indicators, ensuring that progress is visible, accountable, and aligned with international evaluation standards.

The ranking reinforces Saudi Arabia’s accelerating presence on the global smart city stage and aligns directly with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, particularly the Quality of Life Program’s mandate to develop livable, vibrant cities across every region of the Kingdom.

“Hail’s achievement represents precisely the kind of impact we set out to enable—a city where strategic clarity meets disciplined execution, and where every initiative is measured against the standard that matters most: whether residents’ lives are genuinely improving. Ranking 33rd globally is not merely a number; it is proof that mid-sized cities with the right vision and the right framework can compete on the world stage. The credit belongs to the Municipality’s leadership and the people of Hail.”

— Dr. Rayan Khraibani, CEO, Mindsets

Hail now joins Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, Madinah, Al-Khobar, and AlUla among Saudi cities featured in the IMD Smart City Index, underscoring the Kingdom’s deepening footprint on the global smart city landscape. Mindsets continues to expand its urban transformation advisory practice across the GCC, bringing the same integrated methodology to cities seeking measurable, citizen-centered outcomes on the international stage.

About the IMD Smart City Index

Published annually by the Smart City Observatory, part of the IMD World Competitiveness Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, in collaboration with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO), the Smart City Index is one of the world’s most widely referenced urban development benchmarks. The index evaluates cities based on two pillars—Structures (existing infrastructure) and Technology (digital provisions and services)—across five key areas: health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities, and governance. The index is distinctive in its citizen-centric methodology, capturing residents’ perceptions of how technology improves their quality of life. For more information: imd.org/smart-city-observatory

About Hail

Hail is the capital of Hail Province in northern Saudi Arabia, historically celebrated as the cradle of Arab generosity and the homeland of the legendary Hatim al-Ta’i. The city is one of the Kingdom’s leading agricultural regions, and its province is home to the Rock Art in the Hail Region, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015, featuring petroglyphs and inscriptions spanning nearly 10,000 years of human history. Hail is served by an international airport and a station on the national rail network. For more information: amanathail.gov.sa

About Mindsets

Mindsets is a talent-centric investment company that harnesses top-tier human intellect to drive industry-leading innovation and results. Operating through five business units—MSDA, MDEV, MV, DAIS, and VAMA—the firm delivers integrated strategic consulting, technology, project development, and investment services across the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and North America. Learn more at mindsetsx.com.

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