Official government website of the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 
The conference "Towards Effective Scientific Research in Building the Knowledge Economy", organized by the university, concluded its two-day work on Wednesday and Thursday, 20-21/3/1440 AH, at the headquarters of the University City in Al-Malida. 13 specialists from various universities and research centers from inside and outside the Kingdom presented their research papers during the conference sessions, in which they put forward many ideas contained in their research and studies and discussed their results, and how to develop scientific research in the Kingdom and benefit from its outputs in building a knowledge-based economy.
The conference sessions witnessed scientific discussions and dialogues between specialists, interested parties and attendees to identify the best ways to link researchers and scientists on the one hand and officials and entrepreneurs on the other, as well as many ideas and proposals that may contribute to the development and progress of the Kingdom and the realization of its 2030 vision:
The first session, chaired by Dr. Mohammed Al-Saawi, Vice President of the University, began by welcoming the participants to this conference, praying to Allah to make it a success, stressing that the twentieth century was called the century of industry, while the twenty-first century is undoubtedly the century of knowledge because its name is based on knowledge, and this means that the societies of tomorrow are based on it, in the past, land, labor and capital were the basis of the economy, but now a new intruder has entered, which is knowledge based on human resources and human element development, based on creativity and intelligence.
During the session, the General Supervisor of the Research and Development Office at the Ministry of Education, Dr. Hisham bin Abdulaziz Al-Hadlaq, spoke about his scientific paper entitled "The Research and Development Program at the Ministry of Education and the Leading Role of Universities," stressing that the Ministry of Education has adopted an ambitious program that aims to support scientific research and development in universities, and the definition of the mission and objectives of the research and development program, and emphasizing the coordination and integration between the government sector, private sector and universities in the research and development system to achieve the Kingdom's vision 2030.
For his part, Dr. Nasser bin Mohammed Al-Aqili, Vice President for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, reviewed his paper entitled "University Research and Innovation and the Requirements for Creating a Knowledge-Based Economy in the Kingdom," noting that research and innovation is an urgent need for economic transformation and one of the most important ways to lead to economic transformations, and an important factor in achieving the Kingdom's vision, because when looking at the economy based on traditional natural resources, it is usually dependent on low-wage labor and craftsmanship and innovation areas appear isolated from industry and business, and the lack of effective communication between them is observed.
He pointed out that generating knowledge-based jobs and providing leadership with an enterprising entrepreneurial mindset would achieve a prosperous economy with sustainable growth, and here comes the role of building an integrated national system for research and innovation that would help transform ideas into economic values and get universities out of the predicament of accumulating research and not being able to justify spending on this research without linking it to the needs, requirements and expectations of societies.
Dr. Ahmed bin Salem Al Ameri, Vice President for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research at King Saud University, spoke on "The Role of Research and Development in Building and Promoting the Knowledge Economy." His presentation reviewed the concept and indicators of the knowledge economy, as well as the mechanisms of marketing research to build the knowledge economy, in addition to citing examples of innovations with a high impact in building the knowledge economy, referring to the role of universities in building the knowledge economy and the importance of partnership between universities and industry in research, development, and technology transfer, and reviewed international experiences in adopting research, development and innovation to build the knowledge economy, such as the Malian experience
Several research papers were discussed in the second session, chaired by Dr. Ibrahim bin Saleh Al-Omar, in which Dr. Alam Alnoor Othman, President of the World Organization for Sustainable Development in Britain, spoke on "Activating Scientific Research to Serve the Sustainable Knowledge Economy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," stressing the need to enhance the role of science, innovation and research in order to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the prominent and future role of higher education institutions in the Kingdom, and how to develop their research to achieve the Kingdom's vision 2030, achieve knowledge-based sustainable development, and
Dr. Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Abbas, a member of the Shura Council, presented his paper entitled "Knowledge Economy Literature in the Kingdom towards building a research path", during which he defined the knowledge economy as products and services based on knowledge-enhanced activities that contribute to accelerating scientific and technical development, in addition to accelerated progress, as enthusiasts of the knowledge economy are quick to spread its concepts, while opponents of the concept assert that there is no such thing as a knowledge economy and that all we witness is just an active market to sell technology and information as a commodity like others, and a number of studies sought to prove the existence of the knowledge economy by discussing evidence and evidence. Tracking the increase in science-based industries and their role in bringing about economic and social change, the existence of specific knowledge and knowledge-enhancing industries, and the third path focuses on the managerial dimension by focusing on continuous education and innovation in organizations.
At the conclusion of the second session, Dr. Munif Rafi Al-Zoubi, Director General of the Academy of Sciences in Jordan, spoke about his paper titled "Development and Entrepreneurship through Science, Technology and Innovation in the Arab Countries: Dr. Munif Rafi Al-Zoubi, Director General of the Academy of Sciences in Jordan, spoke about his paper titled "Development and Entrepreneurship through Science, Technology and Innovation in Arab Countries: Future Prospects." He said that now more than ever, there is a need to pay attention to the science, technology and innovation sector in Arab countries as a strategic sector that plays a key role in realizing development policies, building a solid economy, promoting innovation and technological development, raising the competitive capabilities of Arab economic sectors, creating job opportunities for graduates from universities, and ensuring the integration of Arab economies into their regional and global circles.
Briefly, the paper critically examines the STI ecosystem in Arab countries in terms of policies, institutions and legislation, and then presents some recommendations that enable decision-makers to launch appropriate initiatives to upgrade STI ecosystems for economic, social and entrepreneurial development in Arab countries.
The third session was held under the chairmanship of Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Dughairi, Director of the Center for Knowledge Cooperation and Exchange at Qassim University, in which Dr. Yousef bin Abdulaziz Al-Turki, Vice President for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research at King Abdulaziz University, participated in the session entitled "Directing Scientific Research and Capacity Building towards the Knowledge Economy": The knowledge economy is one of the most prominent concepts that began to spread widely in the third millennium, and the knowledge economy often receives a large share of the economic activities of countries with advanced economic growth, but the distinctive feature of this new economy remains the central place that knowledge and information occupy in the creation of wealth and economic production.
This research examined the state of scientific research at King Abdulaziz University during the last five years, and monitored the extent to which it conforms to the specifications of the knowledge economy represented in peer-reviewed scientific publications, patents, and the ability of scientific research at the university to compete in the knowledge economy and compete with scientific research in developed countries or their emerging counterparts.
At the end of the third session, Dr. Emad Al-Din Ahmed Al-Musbah, Professor of Economics at Qassim University, spoke on "The Role of Human Capital and Total Factor Productivity in Promoting Economic Growth: A comparative international study", which aimed to test the existence of a direct relationship between human capital and total factor productivity to economic growth in a group of countries and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and used the ARDL method on data for the period 1950 - 2014.The results revealed the different impact of human capital, in developed countries in general there was no significant effect unlike emerging countries, while in Saudi Arabia there was no relationship between human capital and economic growth, as it showed that total productivity in all countries except Egypt there was no effect, and the study recommends the continuation of human capital accumulation and the integration of education outputs into the productive process directly.
On the second and final day, the fourth session, chaired by Dr. Nasser bin Mohammed Al-Aqili, Vice President for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research at King Fahd University, began with Dr. Mahmoud bin Mohammed Sakr, President of the Academy of Research and Technology in Egypt, speaking on "Egypt's Vision 2030 and Knowledge-Based Economy Methodology with a case study." He said that Egypt has taken positive steps to transform into a knowledge economy with its Vision 2030, accompanied by positive efforts and steps The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, represented by the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, has embarked on implementing plans to address several challenges related to enabling knowledge and innovation.
Sakr added that the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology seeks to support Egyptian human resources as the basis for comprehensive development based on the knowledge economy, through the development of the education, scientific research and innovation system. In light of these objectives, the Academy offers a package of programs and activities aimed at supporting innovation and entrepreneurship to achieve economic growth based on knowledge and innovation. The experience of establishing the Egyptian Science, Technology and Innovation Observatory was an important step to diagnose the current situation.
The session witnessed the presentation of a research paper by Dr. Mohammed bin Rafdan Al-Hajjouj, Director of the Research Excellence Center in Palm and Dates at King Faisal University, on "The role of the Research Excellence Center in Palm and Dates in creating products from palm, dates and its derivatives to contribute to the knowledge economy." He explained that according to the economics of 2017, oil represents about 80% of the gross national income of Saudi Arabia, and since the economy built on a single source may face some issues in the long term and is considered unsustainable, the Kingdom has tended to find other alternatives for the development of the economy, including the knowledge-based economy, pointing out that universities and research centers play an important role in contributing to the knowledge-based economy, the Kingdom's vision In the long run, the Kingdom has moved to find other alternatives to diversify the economy, including the knowledge-based economy, pointing out that universities and research centers play an important role in contributing to the knowledge economy, and the Kingdom's Vision 2030 encourages universities and research centers to play a vital role in producing knowledge and transforming it into products that contribute to the Kingdom's transition to the knowledge economy and thus achieve economic growth without relying on petroleum sources.
He explained that the Center for Research Excellence in Palms and Dates at King Faisal University has sought to increase the utilization of palms and dates and find added value to them, and through this, the center has obtained many tangible and intangible products during the past years, including: 21 products in several fields, including pharmaceutical and medical fields, such as an antibiotic from dates, a medical sterilizing "gel" from bioethanol derived from date palm biomass, date extracts to prevent liver cancer, date extracts to treat myocardial infarction, and date extracts to treat myocardial infarction. Food products from dates such as soft drinks, baker's yeast, bio-fortified yogurt and others, as well as in the field of palm pest control such as red palm weevil repellents, smart traps and light traps to control various insects and products to rationalize water.
Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Dughairi, Director of the Center for International Cooperation and Knowledge Exchange at the University, spoke about "The Experience of the Promising Research Center in Biocontrol and Agricultural Information at Qassim University in the Knowledge Economy." He emphasized that since its establishment in 1432H, the Promising Research Center at the university has been keen to direct research projects through its research groups to research that ends in knowledge products that will be of great contribution to sustainable agricultural development and environmental preservation in Qassim region and other regions of the Kingdom, and researchers in the center have reached a number of promising products in biocontrol of agricultural pests and methods
He pointed out that these bioproducts were obtained from the local environment and proved their effectiveness on the laboratory and field scale and completed the stages of experimentation. In addition, the center was interested in finding alternatives to mineral fertilization that have a prominent role in reducing dependence on the addition of mineral fertilizers, the excess of which leads to environmental pollution and the accumulation of some elements in the plant at levels that harm public health. These promising products need to complete their development and testing efforts on a larger scale and reach the final investment and marketing stage, indicating that The promising products obtained by the center include bacterial biopesticides, fungal biopesticide, insect predator Abu Al-Eid, acarous predator (1 and 2), developed liquid compost and biofertilizers, and the center is still trying to find partners to develop and market its products to benefit the agricultural community in the region and other regions of the Kingdom from these products, and to find a self-sustaining income from the sale of these products to ensure continued work on creative research that contributes to the knowledge economy of the Kingdom and conduct quality partnerships with international universities, institutes and specialized research centers.
The last session of the conference was chaired by Dr. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Sharida, Professor of Sociology at Qassim University, during which Dr. Hussein Mohammed Amer Al-Obeid, Associate Professor of Economics at King Khalid University, spoke about his paper entitled "Comparison of models of technology parks promoting the knowledge-based economy in the European region of Rublek and Silicon Valley in America", which explained that since the end of the last century, a systematic industrial and commercial linkage has emerged to support the knowledge-based economy, through three axes (research, industrialization, and export), and in two geographically distant regions In two geographically distant regions, namely Silicon Valley in California in the United States and the European "Rublek" region, four regions in four European countries, which are nominally linked through marketing themselves globally, as they consider themselves four engines of Europe: the Rhine region in Germany, Baden in France, Lombardy in Italy, and Catalonia in Spain, have been linked through three axes (research - manufacturing - export).
These two regions have played a prominent role in promoting the knowledge economy globally, where we find the American model - Silicon Valley - in San Francisco Bay has emerged in the past four decades, which leads the digital and information technology industries through a system of prominent companies such as Apple, Cisco, Microsoft, Google, Oracle and others, which have created added values to the economies of countries and enterprises alike, while we find the "Rublek" region has created a reciprocal relationship between industry zones, research centers and export channels to push the knowledge-based economy to advanced levels of competitiveness. He stressed that this scientific material was prepared for this topic to provide an analytical comparison of the most prominent features of these two models and how to benefit from them to support knowledge-based economies in developing countries and organizations, highlighting the experience of South Korea in adopting the American model and Turkey in adopting the European model.
Dr. Othman bin Zakaria Barnawi, Director of Yanbu Technical Institute in the Royal Commission's Colleges and Institutes Sector, then spoke on "The Role of Higher Education Institutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Era of Knowledge Economy between Originality and Tradition": In our current era, which is witnessing a major shift towards a knowledge-based economy, higher education institutions play a key role in producing and disseminating knowledge, building scientific research competencies to achieve national development, and laying the foundations for economic prosperity and social inclusion, but what do we know specifically about the role that Saudi higher education institutions play in this knowledge-based economy? What are the roles that Saudi higher education institutions play in nation building, what are the global expectations regarding the neoliberal movement in our current era, and how do they view the role of higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia?
At the end of the session, Dr. Allam Alnour Osman, President of the World Organization for Sustainable Development in Britain, presented "Challenges and Opportunities for Saudi Universities to Activate the Knowledge Economy in accordance with the Kingdom's Vision 2030." He discussed the important role of higher education institutions in helping Arab countries maximize the benefits of the knowledge-based economy. The presentation raised some questions, including: What is the role of Saudi educational institutions in promoting the economic and social development process in the Kingdom?
