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His Excellency, Dr. Faleh bin Raja Allah Al-Sulami, President of King Khalid University, issued a decision to establish the “Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Commercialization Office” under the supervision of the University’s Agency for Business and Community Partnerships. This initiative aims to enhance the university’s role in promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic sustainability by transforming knowledge into commercial projects with added value, contributing to economic diversification and sustainable development.
Professor Abdul Latif bin Ibrahim Al-Hadithi, Vice President for Business and Community Partnerships, stated that the office’s creation responds to rapid changes in research, technology, and entrepreneurship, which require universities to play a more active role in transferring knowledge from research labs to markets and industries. He added that universities have become key partners in supporting economic development through marketing research outputs and patents, and by enhancing integration between the academic sector and business and industrial sectors.
The office will contribute to building a comprehensive technology transfer ecosystem by providing consultancy services, establishing strategic partnerships, offering financing and investment mechanisms for innovative projects, as well as protecting intellectual property, registering patents, and marketing them locally and internationally. It will also launch specialized programs in innovation and entrepreneurship, and support the establishment of university startups, enhancing the university’s ability to achieve financial sustainability and maximize the utilization of research outputs.
Dr. Al-Hadithi highlighted that the office will adopt modern strategies in innovation and technology transfer management by enhancing partnerships with industrial and research sectors, and launching initiatives to support pioneering projects and scientific inventions. This ensures integration between scientific research and market needs, providing advanced platforms to enable researchers and innovators to transform their ideas into commercially applicable products, with a focus on priority sectors in Saudi Vision 2030.
The announcement of the office aligns with the university’s efforts to strengthen the innovation ecosystem and intellectual property commercialization. It reflects the roles of universities in supporting the knowledge economy, investing in research and development, fostering partnerships between academic and industrial institutions, and stimulating knowledge-based startups. Recently, the university also signed several cooperation agreements with educational and industrial institutions and launched qualitative initiatives aimed at integrating research with the needs of economic and social development, while developing an academic environment supportive of innovation and creativity.
