NAVER emerges as guardian of digital heritage at LEAP 2025
At this year’s LEAP 2025 held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, NAVER unveiled a suite of cutting-edge AI technologies that captivated local officials and industry leaders alike. Making its second consecutive appearance at this annual event—often dubbed the “Middle East’s CES”—NAVER firmly established Korea’s excellence in IT innovation on the global stage. Let’s explore some of the innovations that made such a powerful impression.
Cultural literacy in AI: Safeguarding digital heritage
At LEAP 2025, NAVER delivered a compelling keynote titled ” Preserving Digital Heritage with AI Value Chain,” outlining a framework designed to safeguard Saudi Arabia’s cultural values through AI technology.
“In the age of AI, elevating Saudi Arabia’s international presence requires AI systems that comprehend the nation’s essence through digitization of Saudi Arabia’s cultural heritage,” NAVER emphasized.
Let’s look at some examples. When previously asked about “Arabic coffee,” AI systems would generically describe it as “coffee from the entire Middle East region”—an oversimplification that fails to capture Saudi Arabia’s distinct coffee tradition. Similarly, AI must accurately distinguish between the archaeological site of Mada’in Saleh in Al Ula and Petra in Jordan by capturing detailed architectural characteristics. Imprecise digital representation ultimately diminishes Saudi Arabia’s cultural legacy.
NAVER brings to this challenge an AI value chain built upon years of comprehensive data collection. From sophisticated data collection to developing advanced data centers, cloud infrastructure, and AI services, NAVER has established a robust technological ecosystem. This foundation now enables collaborative partnerships with various Saudi government institutions, helping transform the Kingdom into an AI powerhouse. Let’s examine some of these projects up close.
Four groundbreaking AI solutions unveiled in Saudi Arabia
NAVER’s tailored AI solutions at LEAP 2025 drew particular attention from local officials, especially in education and healthcare applications. Here’s a closer look at each innovative offering:
“I need help with this problem”
AI Tutor transforms learning
Imagine AI tutors integrated directly into e-textbooks. Students gain access to comprehensive content that goes far beyond traditional rule-based chatbots with their pre-defined answers. NAVER’s generative AI tutor understands the intent behind questions, providing thoughtful guidance.
When a student asks, “What’s the formula for finding the area of a triangle?” the AI doesn’t simply recite the formula—it connects to previously learned concepts and provides progressive hints. The system even recommends new problems calibrated to each student’s comprehension level. NAVER ensures safety and accuracy by fine-tuning their textbook database to align with national education standards.
“Patients over paperwork”
AI Voice EMR reimagines healthcare
Healthcare professionals often find themselves torn between patient care and documentation requirements. Many spend more time on charts and prescriptions than engaging with patients. NAVER’s Voice EMR service solves this problem by generating medical records in real time during doctor-patient conversations.
When a patient says, “I’ve been having headaches for the past three days, and my temperature reached 37.8°C.,” the AI automatically transcribes: “Main symptoms: headache, fever (37.8°C), symptom onset: 3 days ago.” This allows doctors to maintain eye contact and focus on patient interactions rather than typing. NAVER is expanding this technology across the entire clinical workflow, from preliminary diagnosis to insurance claims processing.
“Can’t find that scene”
Media AI accelerates video editing
Video editors know the frustration of searching through hours of footage for specific moments. NAVER Cloud’s Media AI eliminates this tedious process. Simply upload your video, and the AI analyzes people, behaviors, and dialogue automatically.
Request “Find all scenes where the main character runs,” and the system instantly compiles these scenes. This allows editors to focus on creative decisions rather than manual searching. By integrating metadata with editing tools, NAVER streamlines the entire post-production workflow.
WORKS AI boosts productivity
NAVER Cloud’s work collaboration platform, NAVER WORKS, brings AI to everyday business communication. Say “Write an email proposing a marketing campaign,” and the system generates a complete draft from just that simple prompt. With a single click, you can transform the tone from formal to conversational. The system also summarizes lengthy email threads, extracting only essential information. For international collaboration, real-time translation breaks down language barriers effortlessly. By automating routine communication tasks, WORKS AI frees employees to focus on higher-value activities.
Three key technologies powering NAVER’s AI infrastructure
For AI solutions to deliver transformative results, they require a robust engine. In addition to customer-facing applications, NAVER also showcased the critical infrastructure technologies that make these AI services possible at scale.
Heart of AI: World-class, green-certified data centers
NAVER’s state-of-the-art data centers—Gak Chuncheon and Gak Sejong—transcend conventional server warehouses. These facilities integrate cutting-edge technologies from AI and cloud computing to robotics and autonomous systems. Since their launch, they’ve maintained an impeccable record of zero power outages, service interruptions, and operational accidents.
Environmental sustainability stands as a defining characteristic of these facilities. Gak Sejong earned the prestigious Platinum rating in the LEED v4 international green building certification program, setting a new industry standard with an impressive 86-point score. The center employs an innovative cooling system that harnesses natural airflow instead of traditional air conditioning.
NAVER developed high-power server racks that operate at 3 to 9 times the capacity of standard configurations. This design allows Gak Sejong to house over 60,000 servers while maintaining world-class power usage effectiveness metrics.
Learn more about Gak data centers.
Cloud solutions: The essential digital foundation for modern business
NAVER Cloud delivers customized services and solutions tailored precisely to business needs. Businesses can choose from public, private, or hybrid cloud configuration, all featuring enterprise-grade security. For organizations with strict data sovereignty requirements, NAVER offers Neurocloud—a compact on-premises cloud solution available in both container and rack formats. This innovative approach creates a seamless hybrid environment that integrates effortlessly with existing systems while maintaining full compliance with internal security protocols.
Digital twin technology: Creating dynamic virtual replicas of physical environments
Digital twin technology precisely replicates physical environments in digital space, using simulations to forecast outcomes and optimize decision-making—essentially allowing organizations to predict the future.
NAVER’s proprietary technology can recreate entire metropolitan areas as digital twins. By combining aerial photography with advanced photogrammetry, we accurately design city-scale digital replicas. In Saudi Arabia, our partnership with the National Housing Company (NHC) and Sakani transformed the Khuzam project by capturing villa complexes with drones and reconstructing perfect 3D representations using AI.
Our collaboration with NHC extends to developing a comprehensive digital twin platform replicating buildings and holy sites in Riyadh and Madinah. This platform addresses critical urban challenges including flood prevention, traffic management, and efficient city planning through a dedicated joint venture. NAVER is also partnering with key Saudi institutions on multiple initiatives spanning Arabic-based LLMs, data centers, cloud infrastructure, and intelligent robotics research.
Learn more about digital twin technology.
Entering the Middle East with Korean tech startups
LEAP 2025 provided NAVER the ideal platform to explore the Middle Eastern market alongside fellow contributors to Korea’s technological ecosystem. On the event’s opening day, NAVER signed an MOU for “Information exchange and business collaboration for Saudi digital market entry” with 11 Korean companies representing diverse sectors including security, digital forensics, smart city solutions, and artificial intelligence. These partners include SSNC, Sparrow, Genians, WEEDS Korea, UROCK, VIRNECT, AXGATE, CYNIX Systems, MOBILTECH, OCTATCO, and GITSN.
The following day, we partnered with Korean AI semiconductor company Rebellions to develop AI models specifically tailored to local cultural contexts and languages, advancing toward sovereign AI capabilities. By combining our complementary technological strengths and experiences, we aim to foster Saudi Arabia’s unique AI ecosystem.
NAVER: The Middle East’s partner for a digital future
During our second appearance at LEAP, NAVER experienced heightened interest from regional industry leaders. This event provided an excellent platform to demonstrate Korean technological capabilities through our ongoing collaborative projects with local organizations.
NAVER continues to expand our footprint across Saudi Arabia and the broader Middle East, enhancing the global reach of Korea’s IT innovations. Our mission extends beyond technology export—we’re committed to preserving digital heritage through our AI value chain, safeguarding cultural treasures for future generations.
Join us as we help shape the Middle East’s digital future—where technological innovation meets cultural preservation.