Fahad Abuljadayel/Nirmal Narayanan

JEDDAH: The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology is focused on deep tech areas and not on fintech, said a senior university official.

“We are unlikely to be focused on things like fintech because we don’t do that. We are focused on deep tech in core research areas like food, water, energy and environment,” Kevin Cullen, vice president of innovation and economic development, KAUST, told Arab News.

While speaking on the sidelines of the Innovation Driven Desalination Conference in Jeddah, he revealed that KAUST is eyeing a $200 million investment in deep tech to accelerate the growth of technologies and startups.

He added that the Kingdom wants to attract deep-tech companies into the nation, and the government will facilitate a friendly ecosystem for their operations.

“To attract core investment of two or $200-million fund is usual. Getting the first investor is the most difficult thing, getting the second is easier, and the third is easier still,” Cullen told Arab News.

He added that the government would soon appoint a fund manager to manage these investments in the near future.

According to Cullen, the impacts of these investments will be visible in all sectors, which include the gross domestic product and the job market. He also stated that these investments might even elevate the happiness quotient among people.

He also invited young Saudi nationals with an entrepreneurship mindset to visit the university and participate in the entrepreneurship accelerator program.

Cullen further revealed that KAUST’s Entrepreneurship Massive Open Online Course attracted 100,000 Saudi youth in the first six months, while the actual goal of the program was to give training to 50,000 people by 2025.

Talking about the vitality of sustainability, he said, “We are very big on the circular carbon economy. So anything relating to the circular carbon economy will be interesting to us as well.”