Gulf invention campaign opens in Riyadh

The first Gulf campaign for supporting inventors, dubbed "Gulf Inventors 2012", was launched here Tuesday. The launching ceremony was attended by GCC Secretary General Abdullatif Al-Zayani and several other Gulf and world officials. The campaign was launched at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). Addressing the event, Prince Dr. Turki bin Saud bin Mohammed, the Vice President of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) for Research Institutes, said the campaign mainly aims to disseminate the culture of patents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a view to contributing to building knowledge-based economy in the GCC member states. He said Saudi Arabia started a national program five years ago to promote science, technology and innovation in order to turn the kingdom into a knowledge-based society. Riyadh has allocated eight billion Saudi riyals for the first five-year plan for the ambitious project, while the second five-year plan, which has started this year, costs 16 billion riyals, he added. The kingdom now funds over 600 scientific projects annually in lieu of just 15 projects in the past, Prince Turki boasted. For his part, Secretary General of the GCC Federation of Chambers of Commerce Abdulrahim Al-Taqi said this Gulf strategic campaign is part of the federation's development plan which was adopted in Kuwait in March 2012. He urged the private sector to largely support this campaign and future inventions and projects.