King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST; ) in

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

is a governmental organization established in 1977 as the Saudi Arabian National Center for Science & Technology (SANCST; ); in 1985, it was renamed King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology.

History

In 1977, the ''Saudi Arabian National Center for Science and Technology'' (SANCST) was established, with Prof. Rida M.S. Obaid being the president. This center was created as an independent scientific organization that is responsible for the promotion of science and technology in Saudi Arabia. However, the name was later changed to ''King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology'' (KACST). In 1987, KACST has joined the

International Council for Science The International Council for Science (ICSU, after its former name, International Council of Scientific Unions) was an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the advancement of science. Its members ...

(ICSU) as a National Member. In 1984, Abdul Rahman Al-Athel was named as the President of the city. In 2007, Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Suwaiyel, who used to be the KACST vice president for research, became the president. HH Dr. Turki Al Saud is the KACST vice president.

Organization

Institutes

The research complex is divided into the following research institutes: *Atomic Energy Research Institute *Computer and Electronics Research Institute *Petroleum and Petrochemical Institute *Energy Research Institute *Resource and Development Institute *Astronomy and Geophysics Institute *Space Research Institute

Centers

KACST has many different research centers, including: *GIS Innovation Center *National Center for Nano Technology Research *The National Robotics and Intelligent Systems Center *The National Center for Water Research *The National Center of Mathematics & Physics *Technology Development Center *The National Center for Astronomy *The National Center for Biotechnology *The National Center for Agricultural Technologies *The National Centre Environmental Technology *The National Center for Radiation Protection *The National Center for Radioactive Waste Management *Center of Excellence for Wireless Applications - CEWA (Working with

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

) *Center of Excellence for Software Development (Working with

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

) *Saudi Lunar and Near-Earth Object Science Center (Working with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

) *Center of Excellence for Space and Aeronautics (Working with

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

) *Center of Excellence for Wildlife Research (Working with the Saudi Wildlife Authority) *Center of Excellence for Nanotechnology (Working with IBM) *Center of Excellence for Nanotechnology Manufacturing (Working with Intel) *Center of Excellence for Green Nanotechnology (Working with

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

) *Center of Excellence for Bionanotechnology (Working with

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

) *Center of Excellence for Nanomedicines (Working with

UCSD The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing ...

) *Center for Excellence in Biomedicine (Working with

Brigham and Women's Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH or The Brigham) is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts General Hospital, it is one of the two ...

) *Media Center *Middle East Center for Energy Efficiency (Working with Intel) *Joint Center for Genomics (Working with

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

) *Advanced Sensors & Electronics Defense (ASED) Center *Center for Complex Engineering System - CCES (Working with

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

)

Programs

KACST is now working in the following programs: *National Satellite Technology Program *National ECP Program *National Program for Advanced Materials and Building Systems *National Program for Automobile Technology *Aviation Technology National Program

Projects

The National Science, Technology and Innovation Plan

''The National Science, Technology and Innovation Plan'' (NSTIP) is a collaboration between the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Economy and Planning. This program was approved by the Council of Ministers in 2002. This program has fifteen strategic technologies that will help the future development of Saudi Arabia. These plans are:

Water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

Oil and Gas A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geologi ...

, Petrochemicals Technology,

Nanotechnologies Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propert ...

Biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

Information Technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

, ECP (

Electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

Communications Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

Photonics Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in the form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. E ...

), Space and Aeronautics Technology,

Energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

, Advanced Materials, Environment,

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

Medical Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

and

Health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

, Agricultural Technology,

Building A building or edifice is an enclosed Structure#Load-bearing, structure with a roof, walls and window, windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, a ...

and

Construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

King Abdullah's Initiative for Arabic Content

' is a project that aims to provide high-quality Arabic contents in all disciplines. To achieve this goal, KACST started to work with the local and international organizations. For example: *'' Nature Arabic Edition'': KACST has collaborated with the

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd in the United Kingdom and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC in the United States) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be on ...

to translate ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'' journal into Arabic. The print issues are freely available to qualified subscribers. Also, the contents of this journal will be available online for free. *''Wiki Arabi'' (): This is another project initiated by King Abdullah's Initiative for Arabic Content. This project aims to improve the content of the Arabic Wikipedia by translating the high-quality articles from other languages of Wikipedia such as English, French and Hebrew Wikipedia. The first Wiki Arabi event was in 2010, where over 2000 articles were translated into Arabic. The second Wiki Arabi was in 2012.

Nuclear technology

In 1988, KACST starts planning to develop

nuclear technology Nuclear technology is technology that involves the nuclear reactions of atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei. Among the notable nuclear technologies are nuclear reactors, nuclear medicine and nuclear weapons. It is also used, among other things, in s ...

in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, KACST decided to open the ''Atomic Energy Research Institute'' (AERI). This Institute will help Saudi Arabia to develop the

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...

along with '' King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy''. The AERI has four different departments: Radiation Protection Department, Industrial Applications, Nuclear Reactors and Safety, and a Materials Department

Scientific achievements

* KACST's Space Research Institute has designed some satellites that are used in scientific purposes. Such as: SaudiSat 5A,5B, SaudiComSat-1, SaudiGeo-1 and the Geostationary Satellite SGS-1 ( 1/Hellas Sat 4) and Arabsat-6A which was recently launched on 4 February 2019. * In 2006, KACST signed a collaboration agreement with

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, western suburb of Gene ...

to participate in the construction of LINAC4 project. KACST engineers constructed a warm prototype of it. This prototype was then qualified at CERN. And now, KACST is working build up a

high-energy physics Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the scale of protons and neutrons, while the stu ...

community to participate in future CERN programs. * On September 30, 2008, KACST funded the science team of '' Gravity Probe B'', helping them to complete the project. * In 2012, KACST announced the first electrostatic accelerator in Saudi Arabia. This accelerator has been designed by the ''National Center of Mathematics and Physics''. * In April 2013, KACST announced the creation of WaferCatalyst, which is a Multi-project Wafer (MPW) consolidation initiative, which aims to promote

Integrated circuit An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...

design and related technologies in Saudi Arabia and surrounding regions.

Information Technology Unit (ITU)

Information Technology requirements for research center and city staff is fulfilled by the ITU section situated in building No. 1.

Internet proxy for Saudi Arabia

The King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology operates the

Internet backbone The Internet backbone is the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected computer networks and core routers of the Internet. These data routes are hosted by commercial, government, academic and other high-capacity network ...

in Saudi Arabia as well as the local registry address space. According to RIPE, "all Saudi Arabia web traffic will come from heIP block" registered to KACST.

Board Membership

* Ahmed Alsuwaiyan (March 2017 – December 2019).

References

External links

*
The National Science, Technology and Innovation Plan website

King Abdullah's Initiative for Arabic Content

KACST high resolution logo (text in black)KACST high resolution logo (text in white)GIS Innovation Center
{{Authority control 1977 establishments in Saudi Arabia Government agencies established in 1977 Science and technology in Saudi Arabia Scientific organisations based in Saudi Arabia Government agencies of Saudi Arabia Organisations based in Riyadh Members of the International Council for Science Members of the International Science Council Censorship in Saudi Arabia Institutes associated with CERN