The President of the University of Dammam Dr. Abdullah Al Rubaish launched on Sunday, February 21, 2016 the Electronic Platform for Ideas Fikrah as an incubator which contributes to activating economic knowledge. The forum was attended by Fahad bin Sulaiman Al Salom from the General Directorate of Education in the Eastern Province, as well as representatives from Saudi Aramco and deans of the colleges of University of Dammam.
Dr. Abdullah Al Rubaish confirmed in his speech that universities have been seeking for decades to achieve their main goal which is preparing distinctive cadres, scientific research, and community service. But in the previous decade a fourth task has emerged which is represented by innovation and leading businesses. Therefore, 5 years ago during the start of the establishment of the University of Dammam this issue was put into consideration during the preparation of the organizational structure of the University. The University structure is consisted of 12 deanships a few of them are the conventional ones such as; the Deanship of Admissions and Registration and the Deanship of Student Affairs and others which are newly developed such as the Deanship of Quality and Academic Accreditation, the Deanship of University Educational Development, the Deanship of E-Learning and Distance Learning, and the Deanship of Innovation and Leading Businesses which is the latest established deanship in the University due to the University’s belief in the importance of this deanship. The University has worked on signing contracts with expert agencies such as Oplon Pure Science Company which specializes in registering patents in the University this contract was signed in order to achieve the goals of this deanship. UoD has started with two patents and now it has 26 patents, 5 patents are registered in the United States for students or faculty members of the University as well as that a partnership with Thomson Reuters Corporation has been accomplished to follow up on what is proposed by the Deanship of Scientific Research.
Dr. Abdullah Al Rubaish added that “looking at what the University has achieved either by its colleges, medical programs, or hospitals one can realize that the infrastructure of the University is a proper place to establish a biotechnology incubator because UoD has so much to offer in and it is the perfect environment for encouraging initiatives, projects, and programs. Therefore, I believe that it is an outstanding objective and we will start with ideas which are the backbone of innovation and leading businesses.
Dr. Abdullah Al Kadi, the Vice President for Studies, Development and Community Service mentioned that “the University is the first university in the Middle East to establish these sort of ideas and the University affirms that these ideas will contribute in building an economic, social or any other issues that will provide comfort and knowledge to the community. There is also a new deanship for leading and innovation for when an idea gets to the stage of innovation this deanship will followed up on it. There is also a higher jury headed by the President of the University, vice president members, and specific deans who follow up on these ideas. Therefore, whichever idea receives acceptance it will be categorized according to its specific sector to start with the research and development stage within the frame of the accepted terms and regulations of the University. And in order to expand the circle of knowledge the participation of the community is very important indeed.
Dr. Nihad Al Omair Dean of the College of Science gave a presentation about the stages of creating “Fikrah”. A few years ago it started out as an idea then later on it took shape and became a reality. After that, Dr. Saad Al Omary the Dean of the Deanship of Information and Communication Technology presented a presentation about Fikrah’s system.
Finally, the student participants in Fikrah gateway; Waad Shaiban Al Shimrani, Raghad Tarig Basager and Noura Fahad Al Odaa from the Mathematics Department and Zainab Yassin Al Turaiki form the Biology Department were honored for their outstanding idea for the (Say Goodbye to Closed Groups) campaign.
