Intel will help establish a center for nano-manufacturing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, located at the King Abdul Aziz City of Science and Technology (KACST) in Riyadh. Intel researchers will join with technologists and graduate students recruited from the Middle East, Turkey and Africa region (META) to work on processing and fabrication challenges. The Center of Excellence in Nano-Manufacturing (CENA) will focus its research activities on nano-processing and fabrication technologies for MEMS/NEMS, nano-sensors/networks, nano-devices, and synthesis and deposition of nano-structures. KACST is building a clean-room, and the new center will be “equipped with the latest state-of-the-art technologies and tools,” the partners said. Intel will send a founding group of researchers to CENA, both to conduct research and to guide the graduate students and other researchers drawn from the META region. The goal is to foster the region's talent in multiple disciplines, including computer science, physics, chemistry and material sciences, among others. CENA plans to begin R&D activities in October 2010. The partners said engineering graduate students hailing from the region are encouraged “to make CENA their preferred center to conduct research in nano-manufacturing.” The partners said they expect to attract top-flight applicants by offering “generous financial support for the student and his home institution advisor.” The scholarships will be awarded by KACST as well as from cultural organizations in the Arab World “who share the belief in the vital need to bring an end to the brain drain phenomena from the region, to secure future growth and economic development.” “This agreement with Intel will pave the way to creating a rich environment in which researchers and talented scientists, not only from the Kingdom but from the Arab and Islamic region at large, to do their research in this field and leverage the capabilities CENA is set to provide,” said Prince Turki Bin Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Saud, vice president of KACST. Other participants in the signing ceremony included Aziz Al-noghaither, Intel's Saudi Arabia country manager, Justin Rattner, Intel vice president and director of the corporate technology group, and Makarem Hussein, a senior principal with Intel and the founding director of CENA. Hussein pointed to the center's “potential impact in preparing that region to attract future investments.” The partners said CENA will not grant academic degrees itself, but is intended to provide a venue for students to conduct research toward graduate degrees from their home institutions. CENA is the second joint center Intel and KACST are setting up in Saudi Arabia. Last year, Intel and KACST announced plans to set up a wireless mobile services R&D lab to develop WiMAX and other wireless technologies. Intel Corp based is based in Santa Clara, California.
