Prince Saud Bin Abdullah Bin Thenayan, SABIC Chairman, and Mohamed Al-Mady, SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO, look on as Dr. Ernesto Occhiello, SABIC Executive Vice President, Technology & Innovation, and Dan Heller, Vice President, New Ventures and Baltimore General Manager, Lockheed Martin, sign the Memorandum of Understanding in Riyadh. — Courtesy photo
RIYADH — SABIC and Lockheed Martin have announced the launching of a partnership to explore the establishment of a new joint venture company in Saudi Arabia to develop carbon nanostructure materials for a variety of end markets and applications. Under a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), SABIC and Lockheed Martin will coordinate on the development, industrial validation, testing, scale-up, production and sale of carbon nanostructure materials and carbon nanostructure infused products. Commenting on the joint venture MoU, Ernesto Occhiello, SABIC Executive Vice President, Technology & Innovation, said the memorandum was part of an initiative to develop new specialty-based business opportunities for SABIC and develop higher value-added businesses in Saudi Arabia. “We are happy that Lockheed Martin has shown their intention to share their newly developed technology with SABIC. An innovative partner like Lockheed Martin is indeed valuable to us, and we hope the initiative will be the beginning of a longer term relationship with the company.” A carbon nanostructure is a cross-linked and highly entangled arrangement of carbon nanotubes on a base material. Carbon nanostructures can be grown at scale on various substrates and formed into materials with superior structural and conductive properties. “We believe the combination of Lockheed Martin's advanced nanotechnologies with SABIC's premier capabilities will lead to exciting opportunities for innovative, new materials,” said Dale Bennett, Executive Vice President of Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training. “As we partner with SABIC, Lockheed Martin is proud to expand our nearly 50 year relationship supporting the Kingdom's people, industry, government and academia.” MoU signed with KAUST In another development. SABIC, in support of the development of talented scientists and to promote technology development signed a MoU with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to provide funding for research projects at the Catalyst Center and Nanotechnology Initiatives. The MoU was signed by Dr. Ernesto Occhiello SABIC Executive Vice President, Technology & Innovation, and Prof Jean Lou Chameau, President, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Under the MoU, SABIC will commit at least 10 research programs to be operated at the related Catalysis Center and the Nanotechnology Initiatives totaling at least SR 10 million. With this MoU, SABIC's total support to KAUST research collaborations now exceeds SR 17 million. Mohamed Al-Mady, SABIC Vice Chairman and CEO, said, “We are happy to cooperate with the KAUST, which is considered to be among the leading research universities in the world, and support and encourage the development of young scientists in KSAa. The research at KAUST holds considerable promise for improving lives, promoting sustainability initiatives, and building excellence in science and technology.” — SG
