The FINANCIAL — Siemens is supporting the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, which has begun its academic instruction this semester.
KAUST is a graduate research university in Thuwal on the Red Sea, with a diverse, international faculty and graduate student body. Siemens is a founding member of the partnership program KAUST Industrial Collaboration Program (KICP) which aims to intensify cooperation with industry on a regional and a global scale. The focus of the international university’s research activities will include renewable energy, environmental technologies, and material and biosciences.
“This partnership is an important building block for expanding our network of competencies,” said Prof. Hermann Requardt, Siemens Chief Technology Officer and CEO of the Healthcare Sector, as he signed the cooperation agreement. “We are committed to ‘open innovation’, in other words working closely together with research facilities throughout the world to develop answers to the most important questions of our time.” Therefore Siemens maintains research collaborations worldwide with the most renowned universities. “The KAUST covers precisely the topics that help us in the development of sustainable solutions for our green technologies,” said Requardt.
KAUST will serve as an important partner in Saudi Arabia where Siemens has been represented for more than 75 years and currently has over 1800 employees. KAUST itself is part of a research network which includes many of the world’s leading universities including Stanford University in California and Cambridge University in the U.K. The faculty consists of international scientists with diversified backgrounds with researchers and students having been drawn strictly on the basis of merit to join KAUST.
“Industrial collaboration is one of the key strategies of KAUST,” said Prof. Choon Fong Shih, KAUST president. “KICP’s membership provides access and an overview of the research work being executed on the main campus in Thuwal, as through the significant global collaborative research network, a seat on the KAUST Industry Advisory Board and strategic access to KAUST’s start ups. KAUST is proud to have Siemens as a founding member of the program.”
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