The agreement was signed by University of California, King Abdulaziz City for Science and (KACST)

 

The University of California, San Diego has signed an agreement with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and Saudi Telecom Company (STC) to collaborate on the development of information technology systems and advanced communications.  The agreement was signed Wednesday 31 March 2010 at KACST.

 The agreement was signed in the presence of His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Suwaiyel, KACST's President, by His Highness Prince Dr. Turki Bin Saud Bin Mohammed Al Saud, KACST’s Vice President for research institutes, and Eng. Saud Bin Majed Al-Daweesh, Chief Executive Officer of STC Group, the main telecommunications carrier in Saudi Arabia and the region. The two signatories on the U.S. side were former UC President Robert Dynes, and Ramesh Rao, Director of the UCSD Division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), the primary UC partner in the research pact.

“We are  pleased to have reached an agreement on a tripartite research partnership with UC San Diego and Saudi Telecom,” said Prince Turki after the ceremony. “I have visited the campus in California on multiple occasions, and it became abundantly clear that Calit2 has deep experience with prototyping technologies of direct benefit to society – an important goal for KACST. our researchers and industry specialists will get the opportunity to collaborate with some of the best engineers in the world as they look for solutions that can work in the global context.” 

Prince Turki added that KACST is currently working to move beyond research and development to provide and deliver tangible results for the benefits of the public and the private sectors in the Kingdom, indicating that this agreement will implement more than ten projects to provide tangible products to serve the vital sectors such as health, traffic, pilgrimage and tourism.  These projects will have economic return; contribute to building a knowledge-based society in Saudi Arabia.

 "STC believes in innovations", said Eng. Saud.  "We have presented to our customers the latest and most advanced services and we intend to keep STC the leader of innovations in the region.  Part of STC strategy is to support the Government's ambitious plans to transform the Kingdom to the Knowledge-based Economy, in which advanced ICT services play a major role.  STC considers its support for R&D not only part of the company's social responsibility but in addition a commitment to our customers to solve their real problems and make their life easier." 

According to STC CEO Saud Al-Daweesh, “Wireless and advanced communications technologies have become a driving force for innovation in many sectors of society and our company is investing heavily in the NGN networks and wireless Internet.  KACST as well as Calit2 and UCSD have a strong track record of cooperation with their partners in the telecommunications industry, so we look forward to working closely with their researchers and hopefully to the eventual commercialization of technologies developed through this partnership.”

 “This is a win-win situation for Calit2 and our Saudi partners,” said Calit2’s Rao. “At a time when campus and state budgets are strained in California, this agreement will help support the work of faculty and students who will primarily be working in our research labs in San Diego. At the same time, KACST has a huge workforce of researchers who will be able to collaborate either in person or remotely via videoconferencing with their world-class California counterparts. With Saudi Telecom, we also have an important ally as we prototype and test new wireless solutions for Saudi Arabia, especially in the health sector.”

In addition to Rao and former UC President Dynes, the UC San Diego delegation at the signing ceremony in Riyadh included Calit2 researchers Tom DeFanti, Ganz Chockalingam and Anders Nilsson. Dr. Saleh Al-Harthi, a former KACST researcher, who earned his Ph.D. from UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering, and who is now at Saudi Telecom, will be playing a central role in facilitating this collaboration.