King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) is a scientific government institution that supports and enhances scientific applied research. It coordinates the activities of government institutions and scientific research centers in accordance with the requirements of the development of the Kingdom More
In an effort to achieve Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, KACST was keen on preparing its initiatives within the National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020, to align the National Policy for Science and Technology with the objectives of Vision 2030
An agreement between KACST and TAQNIA has been signed to market, sell, and commercialize the products, services, assets, and intellectual properties (IPs) owned by KACST.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s economy is growing steadily, even during a period of global economic recession. Nevertheless, this growth has largely been based on oil and gas exports, a sector that has generated more than half of the Kingdom’s GDP.
To diversify its economy away from oil-based dependence to a knowledge-based economy, the Kingdom has been driving a significant number of initiatives and investments in different areas directed to broaden its market, provide its youth with the necessary education and develop new sector growth. An assessment of the overall innovation value chain shows that the capabilities in the initial stages of this value chain are becoming more mature, while further downstream, commercialization and venture development, are the areas that show relevant gaps. There is a need to fill the gap in R&D commercialization and, primarily, in the venture development area.
TAQNIA commercializes R&D outputs from Saudi Arabia’s research centers and universities. The Kingdom has been investing heavily in the initial stages of the innovation ecosystem or value chain. However, the development of new large companies or new technology intensive sectors was limited. TAQNIA provides a range of services to the Saudi Innovation Ecosystem on a for-profit, contractual basis. Today TAQNIA includes a number of subsidiaries that not only provide services to R&D directly but also have been established to transfer technology by creating joint ventures with global leaders within TAQNIA’s six main focus sectors.
TAQNIA was established in 2011 through a royal decree with a mandate to drive the accelerated diversification
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