On Thursday, May 6, 2010, KAUST will host its inaugural Economic Development International Symposium entitled “Economic and Technological Challenges in Membrane-Based Water Desalination”. The Symposium is held within the China Water Show that is itself organized this year as part of the International Trade Fair for Water, Sewage, Refuse, Recycling and Natural Energy Resources, also integrating the China Environmental Protection Expo.

The Symposium’s opening keynote presentation will be delivered by Professor Gary Amy, Director of KAUST’s Water Desalination and Reuse Research Center. World-class academic and industrial leaders will also address a number of topics relating to membrane-based water desalination, including amongst others:

• Gary Martin (Siemens), on “The Economics of Water Desalination”


• Professor Neil Chung (National University of Singapore), on “Potential Role of Forward Osmosis in Seawater Desalination”


• Professor Jan Schippers (Professor Emeritus of Water Supply Technology, UNESCO-IHE, Delft, The Netherlands), on “SWRO: Fouling Prediction and Control”


• Mr. Brent Alspach (Senior Project Engineer, Malcolm Pirnie), on “SWRO Trends in the USA, Australia and Beyond”


• Professor Congjie Gao (Quingdao International Desalination Center, Ocean University of China), on “Seawater Desalination Technologies and Practice in China”


• Dr. Steven Rosenberg (Research and Development Fellow, Dow Water and Process Solutions, The Dow Chemical Company), on “Challenges and Trends Forward in Water Desalination”


• Dr. Charles Kingdon (Director of the Research Park and Innovation Cluster at KAUST), on “Economic Development at KAUST: Industry and Start-ups Locating in KAUST Research Park and Innovation Cluster”.

KAUST is a graduate-only university that promotes excellence in engineering research as well as innovation and commercialization of technology. KAUST is structured around Research Centers that focus on defined technological applications of commercial relevance to industry, such as chemical catalysis, solar and alternative energy, plant genomics, geometric modeling and visualization, computational bioscience and clean combustion.

KAUST Research Centers are also backed by state-of-the-art Core Laboratories that provide access to some of the best equipment and most powerful facilities in the world, such as supercomputing, 3D visualization, genomics and proteomics, nanofabrication, imaging, nuclear magnetic resonance and analytical chemistry. The Water Desalination and Reuse Research Center, as well as the Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Research Center directed by Professor Ingo Pinnau, are presenting at the Symposium.

The mission of the KAUST Water Desalination and Reuse Center is to contribute towards research and development on the integrated and sustainable utilization of impaired-quality sources. The Center also aims to minimize energy use, chemical use, waste residuals, environmental impacts and carbon footprints. The primary focus of the Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Research Center is the development of cutting-edge membrane technology, spanning applications over a wide range of commercially important liquid and gas separations.

Economic development is a central tenet of KAUST’s mission and the university has built a Research Park and Innovation Cluster (RPIC) to foster innovation and attract industry partners onto the campus.

A team of technology transfer specialists actively supports the development of partnerships for the establishment of industrial R&D facilities in the Research Park and of start-ups in the Innovation Cluster. KAUST selects partners that, whilst working independently on their strategic R&D topics within their own R&D facility in the Research Park or Innovation Cluster, will target projects that are within the fields of expertise of the scientists working within KAUST’s Research Centers and Core Laboratories. This significantly maximizes synergistic links between academia and industry.

This Symposium is part of a series of biannual events organized by KAUST to address topics of global academic, research and commercial interest to KAUST’s Research Centers and Core Laboratories, as well as to reach out proactively to industry as potential partners for the KAUST RPIC. KAUST’s unique academic matrix structure encourages cross-collateralization across disciplines leading to practical, real-world solutions.

KAUST is dedicated to educating scientific and technological leaders, catalyzing the diversification of the Saudi economy and addressing key challenges of regional and global significance, including food, water, the environment and energy.

KAUST has also a vibrant community where graduate students, world-renowned faculty, and research scientists from industry and academia alike live and work together on campus. With a full range of modern services, KAUST has created a living environment for people to meet freely both inside and outside of the laboratories and classrooms, following the model of a “science-city” ecosphere. KAUST integrates recreational amenities into the community creating a social as well as a professional environment that facilitates intellectual discourse and synergistic relationships.

By virtue of its strategic location on the Red Sea, just 90 kilometers north of Jeddah, KAUST is rapidly becoming a strong technology magnet for talent and industry in the Middle East. The KAUST Research Park and Innovation Cluster is also poised to become the prime location for the development of knowledge-based companies in the region.

Further Information

• Agenda of the Inaugural KAUST Economic Development Symposium at the China Water Show.