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Dhahran Techno-Valley is a major undertaking that was initiated by King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) during the year 2006. It is envisioned to be Middle East’s most prestigious, industrial research and development (R&D) and technology nucleus. DTV also provides development, production, and marketing support services for innovation that originates from academic research, but under business environment. It is set up to provide infrastructure for industrial R&D to flourish in the Kingdom.
Providing total business environments that inspire people to excel and make available a focal point for technical innovation to benefit business in the kingdom and the region.
The major objectives of Dhahran Techno-Valley are:
DTV mainly consists of six entities, namely:
It is designed similar to the leading international facilities at Singapore, Hong Kong, Cambridge, Oxford, Aston, Warwick, Sheffield, Aberdeen, New York, North Carolina and Silicon Valley. Flourishing landscaped surroundings will create the ideal ambience and environment where innovations transform into successful business ventures. It is expected that value-added services plus recreational activities will add to the vibrancy and networking amongst tenants in the valley community. Simply, it could be said that DTV has "a local mission with a global vision".
Generally referred to as the KASP, the science park was established in 2002 and is located on a 55-hectare site north of the KFUPM campus. The park is closely integrated with the university. With its proximity to the science and engineering colleges, KASP provides considerable interaction between tenant firms and their personnel and university scientists and engineers. KASP currently houses some of the major national and international technology companies including:
Schlumberger, Yokogawa, Amiantit, Honeywell, Sipchem, Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Weatherford, Rosen Inspection, General Electric (GE), UOP, Dresser-Rand, Tenaris, Naizak (Al-Abdulkareem Holding), Al-Shoaibi Group, Futureware, OptimInd, SCCC, MSSAK, Al-Kifah for Building Materials
KASP is located on a 55 hectare site which is conveniently situated 7 km from the city center of Dhahran. KASP is bordered to the north by the US Consulate and KFUPM. Saudi Aramco, the state-owned national oil company, is headquartered northwest of the site. This Saudi Aramco base is one of three original expatriate oil compounds. South of KASP is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Air Force Base.
The center is at the corniche of nearby Khobar city on 21,700 m2. The buildings area is 14,100 m2. It consists of seven main show halls, dealing with different sciences and technologies. There are more than 350 scientific exhibited pieces and the IMAX scientific dome (the only IMAX theater in Saudi Arabia),[19] the Astronomic Observatory, Educational Unit, Conference Hall, Temporary Exhibitions Hall and Administrative and Services Facilities. The center aims to cultivate the individuals of the Saudi society, especially teenagers, to let them know more about the principles of science, their application, and explanation; it simplifes them by presenting them in an interactive and interesting style, depending on education through entertainment/education through experiment and observation.
Creating a world-class environment that aspires innovation and entrepreneurship was the main objective for KFUPM behind establishing Dhahran Techno-Valley. KFUPM vision for innovation facilitates the flow of technology from university laboratories and research centers to the knowledge-based and technology marketplace. The Innovation Center supports new concepts from the idea generation stage through the prototyping steps until reaching to the proof of concept and including the intellectual property protection. The innovation vision of the university describes all the roads, distances, conditions and connections between where the entrepreneurs are and where they want to go. It provides many alternative paths to future innovation and all university entrepreneurs.
The Technology Business Incubator provides a set of logistical, strategic, and operational support for start-up Saudi technology companies and entrepreneurs to help increasing success of their companies. It gives office space and office support services that are designed with technology companies in mind. These services include immediate availability of modular office units, furniture, computers, network, internet connectivity, servers, printers, communication facilities including telephone and fax services, shared reception, secretarial, and support services, meeting facilities, access to business, science, and technology library, and access to cafeteria and leisure facilities.
The mission of the Liaison Office is to facilitate and promote the University capabilities, expertise and services to the local industries and to be the focal point of contact with the industry/business.
The Consulting Services Center facilitate the consulting services for the university faculty to serve the industrial community in Saudi Arabia which contributes to their professional development and helps the outside community to resolve problems that require high intellectual and technological background. It is hoped that such interaction contributes to the professional development of the faculty members and to the university by providing practical applications and state-of-the art course content. The interaction would improve quality of research and design projects and would provide more training and employment opportunities for students.
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