· Prince Saud bin Nayef: The activities of KFUPM’s Entrepreneurship Institute are in line with the orientations of the Kingdom in support of emerging, small and medium enterprises
· Dr. Khaled Al-Sultan: The Institute embraced 35 startups and inspected 550 entrepreneurial ideas, and 700 students and 200 faculty members participated in its activities
His Royal Highness, Prince Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, Governor of the Eastern Province, fostered the fourth forum of entrepreneurship at KFUPM on Wednesday 15 Feb, 2017, under the title "Development of Entrepreneurial Energy Projects in light of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030".
During his speech at the Forum, Prince Saud bin Nayef asserted that the forum is a manifestation of the attention given by our educational institutes to building a culture of entrepreneurship, and preparing a generation of capable pioneers engaged in promoting economic and social development. He added that the establishment of such forums confirms the great support by our wise government led by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, may Allah bless him, to build an educational system linked to the needs of the labor market, and which creates opportunities for everyone and develops investment tools. This is aimed to unleash promising economic potential, achieve diversification of the economy, and provide jobs for everyone.
His Royal Highness noted that the University's eagerness to engage local and international researchers and experts in this forum was aimed at taking advantage of the unique expertise and experiences, to promote the importance of this forum, and to assess the latest developments in the field of entrepreneurship. He said, “The success of such conferences shows in creating and enabling the environment for entrepreneurship, and supplying sectors of society with specialists in the fields of engineering, science and management. This can only be achieved by designing specialized programs and establishing partnerships based on technology products, especially given that entrepreneurship has become a basic pillar of industry-driven education. This type of education requires the universities to support entrepreneurs from their beginning as students and provide them with a working environment that starts with designing entrepreneurship programs, and ends with establishing partnerships based on technical products. Providing such an environment is in line with the orientations of the Kingdom to support emerging, small and medium enterprises; as well, as it provides jobs and supports the innovation of our ambitious sons and daughters”.
At the end of his speech, his Royal Highness thanked Dr. Khaled Al-Sultan and KFUPM’s community for their efforts in improving the performance of the University, and he thanked the guests and students participating in the conference.
KFUPM’s Rector, Dr. Khaled Al-Sultan, expressed his deepest thanks and gratitude to his Royal Highness, Prince Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, for supporting the Forum and gracing its opening ceremony. He also thanked the experts and researchers who participated in the Forum.
He stressed that this forum is held in the right place and at the right time. It is held at a University with pioneering experience in entrepreneurship, actively involved in establishing an employment-creating community, and includes among its students a large number of entrepreneurs, who melded the job-search experience with the experience of creating job opportunities for others. He added that this forum is held at a time when our wise leadership has developed a roadmap for the future of our beloved country, represented by the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. This vision is expected to accomplish prosperity for our beloved home, because it considers the core strengths in the Kingdom, mainly the Arabic and Islamic depth, the large investment capacity, and its strategic geographical location.
His Excellency said that selecting the theme "Developing Entrepreneurial Energy Projects underscores the Vision’s assertion of the importance of directing the energies of our youths towards entrepreneurship. He added, “We know the keenness of our country on developing a strong economy, since one of the themes of the Vision 2030 states that the Kingdom is urgently seeking to build a thriving economy that provides opportunities for everyone by building an educational system in line with the market needs, and focuses on providing economic opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses”.
He said the University put strategic objectives in place to establish an integrated system of innovation and entrepreneurship 10 years ago, believing in the importance of strengthening everything that serves the national economy, especially in the areas of energy, which contribute to the process of transforming the national economy into a knowledge-based one.
He noted that the University had established Dhahran Techno Valley (DTV), in cooperation with KFUPM’s partner, Saudi Aramco, to attract national and multinational corporations’ research and development to DTV’s Science Oasis, particularly in the energy field. The University also founded the DTV Company to be its investment arm. Furthermore, KFUPM was extremely keen to build intellectual property portfolios and build an effective system for the transfer and commercialization of technology in strategic technical areas, particularly in the areas of energy, to support the development of pioneering projects. He added that the University had established an institute for entrepreneurship, targeting all KFUPM’s students, the graduates of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program, and graduates from other universities through a program called “Pioneers of 2030”. The Institute helps students enrolled in this program to generate pioneering thinking in solving problems, as well as to establish emerging technology companies. The Institute focuses on the important areas in Saudi Arabia including energy, petrochemicals, water, nanotechnology, construction techniques, consumer technologies, as well as technical services such as information technology and community service. He added, “Since its establishment five years ago, the Entrepreneur Institute (EI) attained many achievements. In addition to entrepreneur forums, the EI founded a global advisory board to add a global perspective to its performance and strategies. Moreover, several pioneering teams supervised by the EI achieved local and regional awards. Of these awarded teams, 35 startups were adopted, including six technical and 29 service companies. About 700 students and more than 200 faculty members participated in the activities of the EI, and over 550 pioneering ideas were examined since the foundation of the Institute”.
The supervisor of technology transfer, innovation and entrepreneurship, Dr. Samir Al-Baiyat, said that the Forum is an important addition to previous forums that helped the University to establish strategic plans in entrepreneurship. He pointed out that these forums are important factors in supporting the University’s entrepreneurship programs, affirming the University’s keenness to benefit from international expertise in entrepreneurship to develop its model in this area.
Dean of the EI, Dr. Wail Mousa, mentioned that the Forum has witnessed both local and global participation of experts and specialists in this field. He noted that the Forum's program includes lectures on building an integrated system that will enhance the ability to launch new projects, corporations’ projects related to energy, and projects that focus on human resources and social capital formation, in addition to a panel discussion about what can be done in entrepreneurial energy projects.
During the Forum, an endowment agreement was signed by Mrs. Haya Al-Mojil to donate SR 2 million. Additionally, sponsors were honored: the strategic sponsor (Saudi Aramco), the silver sponsor (Yokogawa Company), the technical sponsor (Uno Soft Company), and the sponsor of social networking (Qerrbah Company).
It should be noted that the forum hosted local and international speakers: Mr. Craig Smith, DTV’s CEO, Dr. Wail Mousa. Dean of KFUPM’s EI, Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Kaabi, Dean of the College of Petroleum Engineering and Earth Sciences at KFUPM, Dr. Saleh Al-Essa, SABIC’s Entrepreneurship Academy Manager, Wassim Basrawi, Director-General of ARAMCO’s Center for Entrepreneurship, Dr. Joe Pekny, Director of Burton Morgan’s Center for Entrepreneurship at Purdue University, Mrs. Julie Goonewardene, Deputy Assistant Chief of Strategic Innovation and Investment at the University of Texas, Mr., Abdul Wahab Al-Ahmari, CEO of Saudi Geophysical Consulting Office, Dr. Detlef Hallerman, Associate Professor and Director of Texas A&M’s Trade Centre, Dr. Mark Sanders, Assistant Director of the Clean Energy & Water at Austin Technology Incubator, Dr. Christina Elson, General Director of Ed’s Centre Snyder for Institutions and Markets at the University of Maryland, and Mr. Majid Mufti, CEO of Saudi Aramco’s energy projects.