Culture & Education | Thursday 23 February, 2017 8:23 am |

A GOIC delegation headed by His Excellency Mr. AbdulAziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel visited King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia to learn about its research and innovation capacities. The delegation held coordination meetings with the senior management to discuss areas of cooperation between KAUST and the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) for the GCC industrial development in general, and the use of KAUST’s scientific innovations and patents in GCC industrial investments in particular.

Engineer Nadhmi A. Al-Nasr, Executive Vice President of Administration and Finance at KAUST, highlighted the importance of cooperation between Gulf research universities on the one hand, and parties working to support industrial development on the other. He stressed that Gulf research universities and centres have a huge potential and deploy serious efforts to establish successful partnerships with the industrial sector. Mr. Al-Nasr said KAUST is a successful model of research universities in the region where industrial innovation in KSA and the GCC is supported. He added that KAUST is ready to share its success story with Gulf research institutions operating in the field of industrial research and development.

Mr. AbdulAziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel, GOIC Secretary General, said scientific research and innovation is one of the key pillars of Gulf industrial strategies, and industrial diversification cannot be achieved in the absence of a strong research base that is capable of dealing with the industrial community and providing solutions and innovations in line with the goals of Gulf industrial strategies. Mr. Al-Ageel reiterated that GOIC is developing a map of the GCC industrial scientific research and innovation capacities to be delivered to industrial companies as part of the set of mechanisms and incentives facilitating partnership and technology transfer between research centres and industrial companies, particularly SMEs. He added: “In their efforts to achieve Gulf industrial integration, the Secretariat General of the GCC and many Gulf government entities are offering great support to these efforts.”

King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) is a leading university in the Gulf and the world that specialises in research, higher studies, innovation, economic development, technology transfer and industry collaboration, in addition to the support of entrepreneurship and startup funding. KAUST has a comprehensive infrastructure supporting specialised research centres and laboratories. It offers an ideal environment for a unique and widely diverse international research and technical cadre.