King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), in collaboration with Saudi Aramco, organized the “First Annual Technology Forum 2011” from May 15-16 in Dhahran. An audience of over 500 delegates participated in the two-day event, mainly themed around research, academic-industry relations, technology development, IP commercialization, consulting services, training and development, certification, community engagement and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In his opening statements, Dr. Khalid S. Al-Sultan, Rector of KFUPM, described the Annual Technology Forum (ATF) as an open platform and added that it will shed light on national and international experiences towards knowledge creation and the Kingdom's ambitious goal of moving towards a knowledge-based economy. Dr. Faleh A. Al-Sulaiman, Vice-Rector for Technology Development and Industrial Relations at KFUPM, highlighted the unequivocal support of Saudi Aramco and called for similar initiatives and support from the private sector in achieving economic diversification by creating a knowledge-based economy through technological development. While addressing the occasion, Engr. Hani Abu Khadra of Saudi Aramco, Dr. Micheal Bittar of Halliburton, Abdullah Al-Zamil of Zamil Industries and Dr. Raed Kombargi of Booz & Company, echoed the importance of the ATF in achieving technological development in the region. They called for cooperation between the industry and academia on the opportunities, challenges and future prospects for technological development. In addition to the keynote speeches, the forum included eight plenary sessions. According to Engr. Syed Hussain, Scientific Officer in Dhahran Techno-Valley (DTV) at KFUPM, the specific objectives of this technology forum that were well defined from the outset and have been achieved are: n To bring together the KFUPM faculty, researchers, students, Dhahran Techno-Valley (DTV) partner companies, national and international industry to discuss and utilize the various modes of interaction to enhance knowledge transfer and technology development. n To provide opportunities for researchers to discuss recent advances; to share knowledge and to identify future research directions in various technological areas such as water and desalination, oil and gas, petrochemicals, nanotechnology, and renewable energy. n To introduce the university research portfolio to the national industry and DTV partner companies and to enable university research faculty to demonstrate their research projects and research areas. n To enable networking between DTV partner companies with the national industry and with the university faculty, researchers and students, to showcase their business, research activities and their intent to conduct various modes of interaction with university. n To give students an opportunity to interact with the national industry and with the DTV partner companies. n To identify in the general essence, the most vital opportunities for developing specific technologies that are under high demand by Saudi Arabia and that are the areas of expertise of the DTV partner companies. In addition to governmental institutions, the technology forum accommodated the largest gathering of stake holders from KFUPM, Saudi Aramco, DTV partner companies, and national-international industry for defining the needs and relations to meet long term strategic technological challenges in the Kingdom.
