Fostering university-industry collaboration in Saudi Arabia through technology innovation centers

Saudi Arabia has established a goal of steering its economy away from a reliance on natural resources toward the development of knowledge-based industries. Strong collaborative relationships between research universities and private industries are central to achieving this goal. This paper proposes a new model for university-industry collaboration which targets combining academic and industrial resources to conduct research and development focused on industry-oriented problems and innovation and, additionally, educating a workforce capable of advancing national technological and economic goals. The proposed model serves as a platform for the recently established Technology Innovation Centers program at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology.