As Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation continues to move the dial, a new phase of collaboration is taking shape. The Public Investment Fund, in partnership with the private sector, will host the fourth edition of the Public Investment Fund – Private Sector Forum on 9–10 February 2026 at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Centre in Riyadh.
Setting out a practical model of public–private partnership, the forum has not only emerged as one of the Kingdom’s most significant national platforms, but also supports a new development approach grounded in integration, equal opportunity, innovation, and maximising economic and social value.
This latest edition comes at a decisive stage, as the Public Investment Fund continues to play a central role in advancing Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation and delivering the objectives of Vision 2030. In doing so, it acts as a linchpin for private sector empowerment and a broader investor base, while strengthening local investment and creating high-quality opportunities across priority sectors.
Forum at a Glance: Scale and Participation
The fourth edition of the Public Investment Fund – Private Sector Forum in 2026 is shaping up to be one of the most impactful yet, with over 12,000 private sector participants expected, more than 200 speakers, and 100+ sessions across six dedicated stages designed to facilitate engagement and business matchmaking. The forum will also feature 120+ PIF portfolio companies and participation from 18 government entities, underlining its scale and breadth. Comparatively, the third edition in 2025 attracted over 12,000 attendees, hosted 50+ workshops and panels, involved 100+ portfolio companies, and saw around 140 memorandums of understanding announced, illustrating year-on-year growth in both scale and outcomes. These figures reflect the forum’s expanding role as a platform for collaboration, tangible public–private partnership deals, and deeper integration of the private sector into Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation agenda.
Strengthening Strategic Partnerships at Scale
At its heart, the forum is a working platform that brings together senior government leaders, executives from national and global companies, entrepreneurs, investors, and representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises. It is designed to reduce complexity and focus on practical outcomes.
Beyond serving as a showcase of PIF projects and portfolio companies, the forum acts as a conduit between supply and demand. It helps businesses find their footing, align their capabilities with project requirements, and remove barriers that, too often, slow participation in large-scale development. It also brings local supply chains into play and enables national companies to engage with confidence in landmark projects shaping the next phase of growth.
The Public Investment Fund: A Central Force in Economic Transformation
Today, the Public Investment Fund ranks among the world's largest sovereign wealth funds and sits firmly at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s growth agenda. Its investment scope cuts across a wide range of sectors, from tourism and entertainment to real estate, renewable energy, technology, industry, transport, logistics, sports, media, and culture.
Through sustained domestic investment, the Fund takes an active hand in creating high-quality jobs, developing national talent, deepening local content, and lifting the private sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP. Collectively, these efforts provide the bedrock for Vision 2030, supporting a long-term shift towards a more diversified, resilient and sustainable economy.
Empowering the Private Sector: From Participation to Leadership
Private sector empowerment sits at the heart of the Public Investment Fund’s long-term strategy. The objective is clear and deliberate: to move national companies beyond the conventional role of supplier or contractor and establish them as strategic partners with a direct stake in shaping outcomes.
This shift is not aspirational; it is already being put into practice. Direct investment opportunities, improved access to mega-projects, structured supplier development initiatives, and targeted financing for small and medium-sized enterprises are reshaping how the private sector engages with Saudi Arabia’s development agenda. Together, these measures are designed to reduce barriers to entry, build capability at scale, and support sustained participation across the value chain.
The forum plays a central role in reinforcing this direction. It provides clarity where opportunity can feel diffuse and structure where engagement might otherwise be fragmented. In practical terms, the forum:
- Sets out current and future investment opportunities across PIF’s project portfolio
- Enables local companies to integrate into value chains, often at an earlier stage
- Supports entrepreneurs and start-ups as ideas progress from concept to commercial delivery
- Enhances transparency around project pipelines, procurement processes, and contracting
- Opens direct lines of engagement with PIF leadership and portfolio companies
By aligning opportunity with access and ambition with capability, the forum helps the private sector move with confidence from participation towards leadership, positioning national businesses at the forefront of the Kingdom’s next phase of economic development.
Forum Themes: Towards a Diversified and Sustainable Economy
The forum explores a broad set of strategic themes that mirror Saudi Arabia’s economic priorities in the years ahead. Key areas include:
Supply Chains and Industrial Localisation
Strengthening local manufacturing capacity sits high on the agenda. The focus is on reducing reliance on imports, building nationally competitive production ecosystems, and anchoring value creation more firmly within Saudi Arabia’s economic ecosystem.
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
As the backbone of the economy, SMEs play a central role in this transition. The forum explores ways to improve access to major projects, ease financing constraints, and support business development, while ensuring that smaller enterprises are sufficiently equipped to scale and compete.
Innovation and Advanced Technologies
Innovation runs through the forum’s discussions, with particular attention given to artificial intelligence, digital transformation, advanced industrial technologies, and fintech. These tools are increasingly seen not as add-ons, but as essential growth and productivity drivers.
Sustainability and Renewable Energy
The forum places strong emphasis on clean energy, efficient resource use and lower carbon intensity, in line with Saudi Arabia’s wider environmental ambitions. Sustainability is not seen as a constraint but rather as a growth driver to shape and accelerate future investments and development plans.
Investment in Human Capital
Recognising that transformation ultimately rests on people, the forum highlights the importance of skills development, workforce readiness, and closer alignment between education outcomes and labour market needs.
Mega-Projects: Investment Opportunities at Scale
The mega-projects led by the Public Investment Fund stand among the Kingdom’s most powerful engines of growth. They span future cities, global tourism destinations, advanced industrial clusters, next-generation logistics platforms, alongside other major cultural, entertainment and sports developments.
The forum helps companies gain early visibility into project roadmaps and delivery timelines. This advanced insight allows businesses to prepare ahead, build capabilities and enter long-term strategic partnerships.
Far-Reaching Economic Impact
The forum’s impact extends well beyond announcements or the signing of agreements. Its wider contribution lies in the structural momentum it creates across the economy, including:
- Stimulating sustained economic growth, rather than short-term uplift
- Increasing the private sector’s share of GDP, anchoring diversification in practice
- Creating thousands of high-quality jobs, aligned with long-term skills development
- Accelerating innovation and entrepreneurship, moving ideas more quickly from concept to market
- Facilitating the transfer of knowledge and advanced technologies, strengthening domestic capability
- Enhancing the overall business and investment environment, with clearer pathways to participation.
These outcomes mark a clear shift from intent to action, with the forum reinforcing confidence among both local and international investors and offering a clear signal of the depth, credibility, and staying power underway.
A Partnership-Led Economic Future
The Public Investment Fund – Private Sector Forum 2026 captures a simple yet far-reaching truth: Saudi Arabia’s next phase of growth will be shaped through partnerships rather than dependency, collaboration rather than competition, and innovation rather than convention.
The forum reflects a mature model of public–private cooperation, grounded in integration, shared accountability and long-term value creation. It points towards an economic model that is diversified and competitive, while remaining resilient enough to respond to global pressures and emerging opportunities.
The Public Investment Fund, alongside the Saudi private sector, is stepping forward with growing confidence, capability, and global ambition, shaping an economic future for the Kingdom defined by purpose, sustained momentum, and a shared stake in what comes next.
