RIYADH, 11 March 2008 — Hundreds of locals and expatriates flocked to the exhibition area of the Four Seasons Hotel here yesterday to visit the first Saudi exhibition for inventions, Ibtikar 2008.
According to King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for the Gifted (KACFG) and Saudi Aramco, the organizers of the event, as many as 3,000 people had visited the exhibition a few hours after the official opening to the public yesterday morning. Visitors were from various age groups, many of which were university students, representatives of government bodies, and members of research institutions.
Three workshops on the subject of ingenuity were held yesterday morning, which was attended by over 300 men and women students.
Khaled Al-Rasheed, a Saudi inventor, said that receiving a patent for an invention that is recognized globally gives the inventor all the right to sell it or give out partial or full licenses for production to other companies.
In his workshop entitled “Inventions Are Not a Scientific Luxury but Rather an Economic Necessity,” Al-Rasheed said that creativity could be found in any family in the Kingdom, giving the example of many inventions by Saudis for simple problems in Saudi households.
“Every person has the responsibility of encouraging creativity within his or her own circle as well as spreading this culture in the community,” he said. “The responsibility of developing creative thinking lies on everyone.”
Yousul Al-Sahhar, another Saudi inventor, spoke about his experience inventing a process for making a building material from garbage that can replace wood used in construction.
In another development, ALJ Community Services Programs, a subsidiary of Abdul Latif Jameel Company, signed an agreement in the exhibition yesterday with representatives of 1001 Inventions, a UK-based educational project that reveals the rich heritage that the Muslim community share with other communities in the UK, Europe and across the world.
The project is a nonreligious and nongovernmental project seeking to allow the positive aspects of progress in science and technology to act as a bridge in understanding the interdependence of communities throughout human history.
As part of the agreement, ALJ would provide funds to take exhibitions on early Muslim inventions and the contribution of Muslims in modern science to over 20 countries around the world.
“The project is a noble initiative and we are honored to participate in it,” said Mohammed Jameel, CEO of Abdul Latif Jameel Company. “It will no doubt help Muslims and non-Muslims identify what early Muslim scientists have contributed to humanity throughout history.”
He said that world exhibitions by 1001 Inventors would be in several languages to ensure that audiences all over the world benefited from the information provided.
Salim Al-Hassani, chief editor of the “1001 Inventions” book, said his team was committed to the educational campaign of the program that focuses on mutual respect between civilizations.
Over 35,000 people visited the 1001 Inventions exhibition held in Manchester, UK, in March 2006. According to studies, 65 percent of the non-Muslims who visited the exhibition agreed that Muslims have played a major role in the development of science throughout history.
