Since its launch in 2007 by King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Badir Program for Technology Incubators and accelerators has exponentially grown supporting budding entrepreneurs, and is currently in the process of opening new incubators in the cities of Abha, Buraida, Dammam, and other cities around the Kingdom by 2020. Nawaf Al-Sahhaf, Chief Executive Officer of Badir, said the national program, with a mission to encourage and support the establishment and development of technology incubators in the Kingdom in order to promote and stimulate a knowledge-based economy, has incubated 106 technical projects through its five incubators, generating a market value of SR232 million for 28 projects only. He added that some 699 jobs for young Saudis were also created as a result. Badir program currently includes five business incubators in three cities, namely Riyadh, Jeddah, and Taif, he said. Explaining how Badir functions and operates, Al-Sahhaf said "the first incubator is in the field of ICT, and it aims at promoting the growth of projects in the fields of computers and communications, ICT infrastructure, software and solutions, multimedia, and smart phones applications. The second is biotechnology incubator which works on supporting, establishing, and developing the business sector of biotechnology in several fields, namely health and medicine, environment and agriculture, in addition to biotechnology-related industries, in order to embrace and develop strategic projects for researchers and doctors, and therefore provide advanced medical services to support and develop the technology that would greatly improve the healthcare sector in the Kingdom." Further, "the third incubator is in advanced manufacturing, and it serves the business entrepreneurs who are interested in founding new companies in the fields of advanced manufacturing processes, production of advanced industrial materials, and new and innovated products. The university incubators were established with a view to develop and support the growth of start-ups in the technical field, and promote the growth of recent projects within the different technical sectors in the Kingdom. Finally, there is Badir incubator for technology in Taif, which aims to promote the objectives of the program in terms of supporting the fields of technology and entrepreneurship," Al-Sahhaf noted. He emphasized that KACST, through Badir Program, gives special attention to supporting entrepreneurship and technical incubators in KSA with a view to establish new technical projects and create promising investment opportunities that would contribute to diversifying the income sources and promoting the national economic development, while offering more job opportunities for Saudi youth. Al-Sahhaf confirmed that the program has carried out throughout these years its main role in offering different facilities that help the Saudi male and female entrepreneurs transform their technical ideas into successful investment projects that contribute to the diversification of the income sources while creating more job opportunities for the youth. Al-Sahhaf moreover noted that Badir Program is seeking, within the scope of the National Transformation Program 2020, to establish more than 600 additional companies that would contribute to the creation of 3,600 jobs in line with the Kingdom's vision at the technical level, and help stimulate the national economy and development. He pointed out that the plan falls within the policy of KACST which consists in encouraging, supporting, and promoting the cognitive economy and the entrepreneurship. It also constitutes a positive step in the government's thrust to diversify sources of economy by developing non-oil technical industries and promoting innovations and creations. Al-Sahhaf cited many services Badir offers to business entrepreneurs, such as assistance in developing work plans for the incubated projects, preparing workshops of different subjects to develop the individual skills of the incubated party, offering legal, administrative, and marketing advice, developing the research, marketing, and promotion skills, building relationships with the commercial parties in the Saudi and world commercial market, assisting in getting the necessary funding by facilitating the access to financial support sources, along with the ongoing follow-up, support, and provision of different aspects of back-up to develop the project and make it a success. "Badir program provides the adequate environment for entrepreneurs so they can employ their ideas creatively in a way to serve the nation, the society, and the global development. Badir has program guides for the innovators and entrepreneurs toward improving the efficiency of innovations investment operations, and clarifying the vision of the innovator in all aspects related to the development of the technology like the innovation authority, the commercial feasibility, the growth strategies, and others, and therefore, reduce the failure possibilities, increase success opportunities, with the optimal exploitation of the financial and human resources." In addition, Al-Sahhaf said Badir program offers a help service to obtain the invention and ownership patent, and provides a permanent place for the project within Badir, and also grants the right of access to the modern and developed utilities and facilities, prepares the adequate environment, supports the design, reverse engineering, 3D printing, product quality control, and engineering evaluation, in addition to organizing a number of workshops and conferences about industries, intellectual property, and engineering design programs, and also specialized conferences and workshops in different fields of technical and scientific research in order to benefit from the international experiences and the developed states in this regard, and always seeking to bring senior experts and specialists in the technology field to give lectures and animate workshops for Saudi young people so as to develop their skills and talents and their capacities in the technical field." Business entrepreneurs can take advantage of Badir program, Al-Sahhaf emphasized. "One of the main objectives of Badir program is certainly supporting innovators and business entrepreneurs in the field of technical projects, promoting business entrepreneurship and the culture of self-employment in the technical field in order to prepare a distinguished generation of business entrepreneurs in the technical field in the Kingdom. All business entrepreneurs and owners of innovative ideas who would like to convert their ideas into successful technical companies, can communicate with the program, and the latter will support the projects of young people logistically regardless of the age or the sex, provided that the idea of the project shall be a leading new idea in order to get the technical and advisory support of the program." Al-Sahhaf further stated that the program aims at supporting the knowledge-based economy, adopting advanced international practices, creating developed support policies that fulfill the needs and meet the aspirations of the business entrepreneurs at local level, in addition to supporting and developing the fields and industries that are required by the local competitive environment, taking advantage of the local resources, and exploiting the strong points and available opportunities. Al-Sahhaf likewise differentiates between the business incubators and business accelerators, saying that business accelerator is about bringing up an idea that will be discussed in the "camp of ideas" throughout a period of time. From then, the owner of the idea is asked to present a work plan, then the projects ideas are studied for 90 days to evaluate the capacities and seriousness of their owners and verify the integrity of the work team. However, the business incubator consists in incubating a project and offering tools for relevant development and marketing, after it has passed through the business accelerator phase. Nonetheless, both of them work on supporting the entrepreneur and sharing with him the same final objective, which is the transformation of the innovative ideas into successful commercial projects, he pointed out. — SG
