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The 7th Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) Research and Innovation Conference opens its doors to private and public companies, value chain stakeholders, industry leaders and decision makers from academia.
GPCA’s only event dedicated to chemical research and innovation opened at the Address Sky View Hotel in Dubai, UAE, with the theme “Promoting a Sustainable Future through R&I”.
Dr. Bob Maughon, Sabic’s Executive Vice President of Sustainability, Technology and Innovation and Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer and Chair of the GPCA R&D Committee, delivered welcome remarks this morning, calling on the industry to invest in research and innovation for a more sustainable future.
sustainable solutions
“You cannot provide sustainable solutions without the products of our industry. (…) Any solution we provide will have an impact on the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.
Dr Maughon added that collaboration will be key for the industry to achieve its goals by 2030. He concludes with a call for industry players to work more closely with other stakeholders, their peers and colleagues, to build relationships across value chains and to foster collaboration between areas that have traditionally been less of a focus.
Next on stage was Abdulmohsen Almajnouni, Presidential Advisor to the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and member of the RDIA core development team, who delivered a plenary address on the role of regulators in promoting a globally competitive chemical industry. Almajnouni presented the recently developed Research, Development and Innovation Authority (RDIA) and its roadmap to achieve the national Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) goals set by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.
One of them is to increase the kingdom’s R&I spending from 0.6% currently to 2.5% in 2040. To achieve this, Almajnouni said, the kingdom needs to increase the availability of skilled talent across the RDI value chain; it must create a cohesive funding program with a world-class budget; and break down pre-existing regulatory barriers in Saudi Arabia to facilitate and guide Public and private innovation.
Industry-University-Research Cooperation
During the second plenary session of the day, Dr. Kevin Cullen, Vice President of Innovation at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), shared lessons learned from industry-academia cooperation. He urged better universities to work with industry and engage in more strategic partnerships. This, he said, is key to creating new jobs, developing new products and services, increasing the R&I sector’s contribution to GDP, and boosting the revenue and profits of companies in the region.
Dr. Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, Secretary General of the GPCA, commented: “During the coronavirus (Covid -19) pandemic. Insights, case studies and lessons learned by speakers and guests make this conference worthy of senior industry leaders from the region and the world. I look forward to welcoming GCC’s knowledgeable community of chemical researchers, academia, industry experts and students on day two tomorrow to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the industry and how R&I can be positioned to make it more beneficial Incredible growth.”
Innovation Competition
The conference hosted the second GPCA Innovation Competition, which recognized innovative research projects by three undergraduates and three graduate students from the Arabian Gulf.
The top five finalists are given the unique opportunity to present their innovative ideas in front of global and regional industry leaders, jury members and representatives of academia. Now in its second edition, the GPCA Innovation Competition aims to bridge the gap between industry and academia to complement GPCA’s efforts to foster a culture of innovation in the Arabian Gulf. — arab trade news agency
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