nine inventions by Saudis are displayed at the 1st Saudi Innovation Exhibition. Six of the 63 inventions on display are by women. The four-day exhibition at the Four Seasons Hotel was inaugurated Saturday night under the auspices of The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and president of the King Abdul Aziz and His Companions Foundation for the Gifted (KACFG). The inventions on display range from medical to technical gadgets and from patented commercial inventions to inventions at their early stages of design, waiting to be patented. The Saudi inventors came from 20 cities across the Kingdom. Two Egyptians and one Jordanian also participated with their exhibits. “The exhibition coincides with the multiple efforts of governmental institutions and civil services centers in spreading a culture of knowledge in Saudi society and moving towards becoming an innovative society,” said Abdullah Al-Obeid, minister of Education and vice president of KACFG, which organized the event in partnership with Saudi Aramco. KACFG is a national foundation that gathers and nurtures Saudi talents through many programs of Mohiba (Talent), its branch. “This exhibition comes at a time when the Kingdom is also pursuing to compete globally,” said Khaled Al-Subait, general manager of KACFG and head of the exhibition organizing committee. Through nurturing the young talented, innovated and creative youth and developing their skills and training them to become future leaders, KACFG hopes to contribute to the development and advancement of the Kingdom, said Subait with the theme of the exhibition “Empowering Innovation to Serve Development” The scientific committee that analyzed the inventions prior to the exhibition comprised officials from Aramco, King Abudal Aziz city of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education, King Saud University and KACFG. The exhibition also aims to attract businessmen to connect inventors with possible business partners. The inventors had participated in workshops prior to the exhibition to prepare them for displaying and marketing their inventions. Additionally, 25 workshops will be held during the course of the exhibition. On Monday, the morning sessions – titled ‘Empowering Innovations for Students' – will present stories of innovations by Khaled Al-Rasheed and Youssef Al-Sahhar, and a paper on ‘Innovations in Islam' by Salim Al-Hussni. The afternoon sessions are as follows: ‘Innovation: Local Experience, Innovation and Sustainable Development' by Dr. Saad Al Haj Bakry, ‘Intellectual Property' by Dr. Kahled Al-Aqeel, ‘From Idea to Patent' by Mohanad Abu Dayah, and ‘From Patent to Market' by Khaled Al Zamil. On Tuesday, workshops will be held for male visiting students. The program for the day is as follows: ‘A Story of an Invention' by Suleiman Mirdad, ‘The World is Waiting for You' by Abdurrahman Tarbzouni, ‘Making a Dream' by Dr. Ibrahim Elwee, ‘Use of the WIPO Patent Information Services for Developing Countries' by Jose Luis Herce-Vigil, ‘IFIA – Invention and Globalization: Innovation Potential by Countries' by Dr. Vedres Andr?s, and ‘Innovation Culture' by Dr. Alastair Glass, ministry of Research and Innovation, Canada. Scheduled for Wednesday are: ‘A Story of an Invention' by Dr. Faten Khorshid and Reem Khojah (both Saudi female inventors) and ‘Making a Dream (Broadcast from London Hall to Paris Hall)' by Dr. Ibrahim Elwee, ‘Intellectual Property Management – A Strategic Tool For The 21st Century' by Dr. Mohammed Al-Ansari, ‘Industrial Licensing' by Dr. Ihab Daoud, ‘Company Success Story from Intel' by Gordon Graylish and ‘From 3M' by Wynne Lewis. The exhibit is open to the public till March 31. __
