KACST gives SR3.5bn for research projects
Al-Suwaiyel said that while an average of 10 to 15 patents were filed by Saudi academic institutions in an eight-year period up until 2003, more than 200 patents were submitted in 2008 alone.
The findings were based on reports on research performance indicators issued by KACST and Thomson Reuters.
He also recalled that around 10,000 scientific papers from universities and research institutions in the Kingdom were published by 2012.
He said the aim of the conference is to discuss the prospects and challenges in garnering research funding.
In addition, the conference will also identify different methods to measure the results of research and achievements.
He said that the three-day event, held under the slogan “funding, challenges and solutions,” seeks to gather professionals, decision-makers, business developers, service providers and beneficiaries from funding agencies, the government and research and development agencies, as well as the academic world and the industrial and private sectors, to discuss research and development support issues.
In his brief speech, Al-Ohaly said the conference is being held at the right time since “there is a pressing need for integration among research, educational and training institutes to maximize the effectiveness of research initiatives.”
“Some 8,000 researchers have been enlisted for various projects from the inception of KACST,” he told Arab News. A Saudi man in Al-Baha is pleading with authorities to help his ailing child get treatment. She suffers from a congenital heart defect.
Abdallah Al-Zahrani’s six-month-old daughter, Razan, also suffers from breathing difficulties and was born without a rectum.
Razan has been back and forth to countless hospitals across the country, all of which have either declined or lack the facilities to treat her.
Razan was first treated at King Fahd Hospital in Al-Baha for a week and was then referred to Riyadh’s specialist hospital, but was put on a long waiting list.
She was then referred to Makkah’s Maternity and Children Hospital, which declined to operate on her condition.
“My daughter’s situation is critical,” said her father. “I call on anyone who can perform the surgery to do so. I cannot afford to treat her in a private hospital because I am just a government employee.”