Scientific breakthroughs create possibility. Translating them into technologies and solutions creates impact. 

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is strengthening the bridge between the two, significantly expanding its research translation capabilities to move promising discoveries further and faster toward real-world application. 

A major step in that shift is the appointment of a new category of translational faculty. Four translational professors — Pierre Broun, Mario Caccamo, Pascal Steiner, and Scott Franklin — have joined KAUST, with further appointments expected. Unlike traditional academic appointments focused primarily on research and education, translational faculty bring deep experience in developing technologies toward application. 

They will work alongside KAUST researchers to identify promising scientific discoveries, adopt new advancements, overcome technical barriers, develop and validate solutions, and create pathways toward industry adoption and commercialization. Their arrival represents a significant expansion of KAUST’s ability to translate its fundamental research into impact, supporting the University’s mission-driven agenda across areas strategically important to Saudi Arabia and the world. 

Appointed under the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research (SVPR), translational faculty strengthen KAUST’s research and innovation capabilities, complementing existing translation engineering and partnership support. They work closely with the SVPR’s Research Translation Office and complement its broader efforts to advance the real-world application of early-stage research through targeted funding and hands-on technology development. 

Dr. Hanan Alshargi, director of research translation in the SVPR Office, said the new faculty members strengthen an ecosystem designed to ensure that KAUST research not only advances knowledge, but also reaches the industries, policymakers, and communities it can serve, supporting the Kingdom’s ambition to turn research and innovation into engines of economic diversification and long-term impact. 

“The maturity of a University’s innovation ecosystem is reflected not only in the quality of the science it produces, but in its ability to move that science toward real-world use,” Alshargi said. “That is the capability we are continuing to build at KAUST.” 

Ecosystem for impact 

Within KAUST’s broader research and innovation ecosystem, the SVPR Office leads the University’s upstream and early-stage research translation efforts, identifying promising opportunities and providing the resources and expertise needed to move them beyond the laboratory. 

Dedicated funding advances technologies through proof of concept and validation, while translation engineering provides hands-on expertise to refine prototypes, address technical bottlenecks, assess market competitiveness, test performance under representative conditions, and prepare technologies for deployment. 

Partnerships strengthen the focus on application, connecting technologies with industry needs and potential users from an early stage. Together, this support helps promising research to move from discovery toward real-world use. 

As technologies mature and move closer to market readiness, KAUST’s innovation capabilities through the National Transformation Institute increasingly take the lead, Alshargi said, assessing commercial opportunities, engaging licensees and industry partners, and identifying the best route to market through licensing, industry adoption, venture creation, or other commercialization mechanisms. 

Through this model, promising research can be identified and advanced early in its development, tested to make sure it works, and connected with the expertise and support needed to move toward successful commercialization and wider adoption. 

Model of success 

One example of the translational pathway in action is a KAUST-led project using artificial intelligence to help reduce uncertainty in mineral exploration in Saudi Arabia. Led by Professors George Turkiyyah and David Keyes, in collaboration with geophysical imaging experts at Canada’s University of British Columbia, the project applies AI to the challenge of understanding what lies beneath the mineral-rich Arabian Shield. 

KAUST’s translational infrastructure helped researchers develop and de-risk a proof-of-concept solution, transforming the research into a computational prototype ready for engagement with industry partners. 

The project attracted the interest of Ma’aden, Saudi Arabia’s national mining company, leading to a follow-on, 30-month research and development contract and providing a pathway for testing and deployment using actual Saudi geological data. The project demonstrates how research can progress through targeted funding and translational support toward real-world application in addressing a challenge of strategic importance to the Kingdom. 

Translational faculty 

KAUST’s newly appointed translational faculty bring expertise spanning genetics and genomics, fermentation technologies, computational biology and AI, and applied science and engineering, among other fields. 

With further appointments expected, such experience in translating scientific findings into robust, scalable solutions complements KAUST’s existing research translation capabilities and will help advance research in areas of strategic importance to both the University and the Kingdom. 

“Translational faculty have the ability to operate at the interface of academia, industry, and government,” Alshargi said. “They act as catalysts within KAUST, helping to unlock translational opportunities and shape new directions from existing research strengths.”