RESEARCH CENTERS

A string of exciting new research centers have sprung up in the Kingdom to support the government’s efforts to help generate and implement the world’s best public policy solutions.

NCWRS was established by a ministerial decree in 2017 to take care of the Kingdom's water sector and become a globally recognized and well-respected research institute. The center takes care of all aspects relating to water and has three important initiatives within the 2030 National Strategy: research, building a database, and localizing technology through internal capacity building. Internal capacity building includes designing workshops, holding lectures, field training, and recruiting different experts nationally and internationally from various universities and other entities that can help execute our program. We have already designed various workshops in different disciplines for the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture employees. We also offer scholarships for MEWA employees to get their master's degrees or even PhDs. We want to enhance MEWA's internal capacity over the next four years. Currently, NCWRS' structure comes under the Deputy Minister of Water; however, in the future, it might be linked directly to the minister. The center has cooperated with the World Bank to bring international best practices in water sector

MANSOUR A. AL-GARNI

research to the center. Recently, we established the center’s by-law, aligned priority research topics with the national transformation program and 2030 national water strategy, and made our business plan for the short and long terms. Basically, we are building a database to store and retrieve information in a way that is accurate and effective to help perfect our water management planning and practices.

KAPSARC was founded as a non-profit institution for independent research into global energy economics, bringing together international researchers and working on alignment between energy policy objectives and outcomes. When KAPSARC was founded, there was a desire to have research in petroleum and other forms of energy because it is such a large part of the economy in Saudi Arabia. Its study required a group that is independent. Clearly, there is great work done at Aramco and the ministries of energy, economy and planning, and finance, but, in many countries, there is a desire to have non-governmental organizations provide additional input. That is the purpose of KAPSARC. While KAPSARC started as a petroleum research house, we

ADAM SIEMINSKI