About SR3.5 billion ($932.5 million) was provided for more than 6,600 research projects in Saudi Arabia by the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), according to a report.

The high-quality research activities will contribute to national development, Ibrahim Al-Suwaiyel, president, was quoted as saying, in the Arab News report.

Al-Suwaiyel revealed this as he inaugurated the first Saudi Arabian conference in support of scientific research, organised by KACST in Riyadh, it said.

He said KACST would welcome any new proposals for future research projects. However, it plans to prioritise research according to 14 areas, which include water technology, oil and gas, petrochemicals, biotechnology, nano technology, information technology, space and aviation, electronics and photonics and telecommunications.

While an average of 10 to 15 patents were filed by Saudi academic institutions in an eight-year period up until 2003, more than 200 patents were submitted in 2008 alone, said the report.

The findings were based on reports on research performance indicators issued by KACST and Thomson Reuters.

About 10,000 scientific papers from universities and research institutions in the kingdom were published by 2012, said Al-Suwaiyel.

The aim of the conference is to discuss the prospects and challenges in garnering research funding and identify different methods to measure the results of research and achievements, said the report.

The three-day event, held under the theme ‘funding, challenges and solutions,’ gathered professionals, decision-makers, business developers, service providers and beneficiaries from funding agencies, the government and research and development agencies, as well as the academic world and the industrial and private sectors, to discuss research and development support issues.