JEDDAH, 12 June 2007 — Fund allocations for research projects at Saudi universities have been increased 20 times to SR1.75 billion, said Prince Turki ibn Saud, chairman of the Supervising Committee for Strategic and Advanced Technologies and vice president of the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in Riyadh.

“The fund will help universities to finance their strategic technological projects during the next four years,” the prince said. “The new allocation is 20 times more than the financial support currently received by universities,” he added.

Prince Turki said the committee, which met recently at KACST, had decided to provide attractive remunerations to researchers in order to encourage them to complete their projects at universities and research centers. He said the fund allocations were made in accordance with the projects presented by different universities.

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran and King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah will receive SR426 million and SR422 million, respectively, for carrying out 11 projects each. King Saud University in Riyadh will get SR417 million and Taiba University in Madinah SR100 million to implement their research projects.

Prince Turki said SR94 million has been allocated to King Faisal University in Dammam, SR93 million to King Khaled University in Abha, SR63 million to Imam Muhammad ibn Saud University in Riyadh, SR58 million to Qasim University, SR51 million to Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah and SR32 million to Taif University.

The King Saud University in Riyadh recently announced plans to launch a major research and development program that will be carried out with the support of businessmen as part of KSU’s efforts to boost the Kingdom’s scientific and technological progress.

“We call upon princes, princesses, businessmen and women, banks and companies to finance research chairs in areas such as medicine, pharmacology, engineering, science, computer science, architecture, agriculture, food, water, gas, oil, economy, business administration, law, political, information, society and private education,” the university said.

According to Dr. Saleh Al-Athel, president of KACST, the government has plans to spend over SR32 billion ($8.6 billion) on research and development as part of its 20-year National Science and Technology Plan.