The Dow Chemical Company unveiled the vision for its proposed Middle East and Africa R&D Centre at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust) during the Dow Innovation Summit held on campus.

The summit was the culmination of the first phase of steps taken to further develop the multi-year, multi-million dollar R&D collaboration announced in September 2009.

The main component of event was the Dow Career Day, a recruitment event aimed to identify qualified Kaust candidates for the Dow R&D Centre to be housed at the Research Park.

Summit events included technical presentations by Dow scientists with expertise in water science, oil and gas R&D and infrastructure technologies – three areas where Dow will focus its research at Kaust. Over 50 top candidates were interviewed at the Career event.

“We are committed to jointly apply technology for the betterment of mankind, with particular emphasis on advancements dear to the Saudi community at large,” said Kaust president Professor Choon Fong Shih.

The Dow Sustainability Innovation Award – an annual scholarship competition that Dow selectively administers at leading academic institutions around the world to foster innovation, was also announced on the occasion.

Henk Pool was also appointed R&D director for the centre at Kaust.-TradeArabia News Service