28/02/2011
SABIC and KAUST sign strategic deals
SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO Mohamed Al-Mady, center, and senior officials of SABIC and KAUST during the signing ceremony at the university campus in Thuwal on Saturday.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) signed four agreements with King AbdullahUniversity of Science and Technology (KAUST) at the university campus in Thuwal on Saturday.
The deals cover the development and localization of technology in Saudi Arabia.
They aim to advance SABIC’s innovation strategies and boost the comprehensive cooperation program sponsored by KAUST.
SABIC Vice-Chairman and CEO Mohamed Al-Mady, a delegation from SABIC’s management and KAUST senior management were present at the signing ceremony.
Abdulrahman S. Al-Ubaid, executive vice-president, Technology and Innovation (T&I), signed the deals on behalf of SABIC and Professor Stefan Catsicas, KAUST Provost and Mohamed Samaha, senior vice-president for Economic and Technology Development, signed for KAUST.
Al-Mady said the new initiative would harness a range of key partners that have the productive and creative capacities to establish the Kingdom as a world-class center for science and technology.
“Alongside a significant upgrade in our domestic research capacity, we hope to champion a scientific and technological culture throughout the Kingdom that delivers a range of job opportunities for generations to come,” he added.
Al-Ubaid said the first agreement is for the construction of a SABIC Research and Innovation Center at KAUST, at a cost of $150 million, as the first stage.
The second and third agreements are for SABIC’s direct support of KAUST.
The second agreement concerns the financing of a Polymer Catalysis Research Chair for five years to be disbursed at the rate of $1 million per year, with a cumulative total of $5 million.
The third deal supports postdoctoral fellowships, through which SABIC will support the work of 10 to 15 researchers in areas that are related to SABIC’s business.
The fourth agreement organizes the joint research work between the two sides and intellectual property rights.
KAUST President Choon Fong Shih said the deals would help both organizations fulfill “our missions of harnessing science and technology for the benefit to the people of Saudi Arabia and beyond.”
He hoped that KAUST’s talented students and outstanding faculty would play a key role in SABIC’s efforts to generate scientific and technological innovations for the Saudi Arabian economy.
