RIYADH — The Sustainable Partnerships Conference concluded its activities here Friday with presentation of 1,000 research products and industrial models for universities, in addition to presentation of 220 scientific inventions through the “Promising Technologies and Innovations” exhibition for the country’s citizens and graduates of Saudi universities.

More than 50 cooperation and research partnership agreements were signed between universities and various sectors to support the research and innovation system.

The 2-day conference was held under the theme: “Research and Innovation Towards A Prosperous Economy”, as part of the Ministry of Education’s initiative to foster ties between Saudi universities as a source of production and adaptation of knowledge and the industrial and development sectors for the growth and sustainability of the national economy.

The conference hosted 150 ministers, decision-makers, local and international leaders; 100 from the industrial and development sector, and 40 Saudi universities and colleges. On the sidelines of the conference, 40 training workshops specialized in research and innovation were held, along with 25 dialogue sessions,

Through this global conference, the first of its kind in the Kingdom, the Ministry of Education sought to support the research, innovation and development system in Saudi universities, strengthen strategic partnership and integration between universities and industrial and development sectors.

It also sought to identify research and innovation needs of national priority and provide effective solutions to them, in addition to supporting the Kingdom’s indicators globally in research, innovation, industrial and development sectors, in order to contribute to building a knowledge-based economy driven by innovation and supporting sustainable economic development in accordance with the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

The Ministry of Education extended its thanks to the ministers, and the conference’s guests from the public and private sectors, as well as to local and international industrial companies, expressing its aspiration that the conference would accomplish the desired goals, which aim in their entirety at achieving the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. — SPA