RIYADH — King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) has signed a cooperation agreement in the field of scientific and technological innovation with the Korean Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP).

The agreement was signed in the presence of KACST President Dr. Munir bin Mahmoud El-Desouki, who is supervising the team of establishing the Research Development and Innovation Authority (RDIA) and KISTEP President Byung-Seon Jeong.

This cooperation is part of RDIA’s efforts to implement the national strategy of the research, development and innovation sector, and transferring the best global experiences and expertise. The agreement seeks to evaluate scientific and technological innovation capabilities in Saudi Arabia, developing indicators and preparing periodic reports to evaluate and measure innovation performance, in addition to developing approaches to measure the performance of the Kingdom and comparing it with top countries in the innovation fields.

The cooperation also seeks to transfer knowledge on developing a model to evaluate scientific and technological innovation and conducting studies on national innovation systems in developed countries.

The Saudi and Korean sides will cooperate to develop an evaluation model for complex scientific and technological innovation index (COSTII) and provide specialized experts to guide the joint team in relevant fields.

The agreement with KISTEP is made under the umbrella of the framework memorandum with the Korean Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, which was signed in 2015. — SPA