The Ministry of Education achieved qualitative leaps in supporting the national economy with scientific research to keep pace with the changes of the era and variables and improve learning outcomes. Thanks to the interest and support of the wise leadership which resulted in the issuance of the Cabinet's decision to establish a "Research, Development and Innovation Authority"; to achieve the aspirations of the Kingdom's Vision 2030.
The Ministry of Education, represented by the Agency for Research and Innovation, was able to enhance the culture of research and innovation in universities and research institutions, support innovators and inventors , develop their scientific skills, and enable them to transform their ideas into pioneering projects that support economic growth to achieve sustainable development, as well as directing the compass of scientific research and innovation towards solutions more responsive to reality, and linking the research community and universities to an effective partnership with the public and private sectors.
The Ministry of Education organized a series of workshops to promote partnership between universities and industry sector in areas of national priority to link universities with national authorities and bodies through research and innovation, and to enhance the role of Saudi universities in contributing to economic development. In addition to launching innovative projects in partnership with the industrial sector and transforming applicable scientific research into commercial projects capable of growth, development, and investment.
The Ministry of Education created new tracks in the external scholarship program to support innovators and inventors. On top of this is the talent and leadership track to send talented and distinguished people throughout the year after selecting and qualifying them from the ministry’s partners to study in the best 30 universities according to specialization, in addition to the Excellence track, which aims to achieve the requirements of comprehensive development, raising the level of scientific qualification of students by sending them to distinguished international educational institutions which contribute to the development and refinement of their knowledge and capabilities in various fields and specializations.
The Ministry of Education made great efforts to prepare the educational sector to support the research and innovation system. Most notably, the establishment of an agency affiliated to the ministry to undertake research and innovation tasks, and the creation of the position of Deputy Minister of Education for Universities, Research, and Innovation. Moreover, building a strategy for scientific research and research identity in public universities, in line with the national needs, and to serve the strategic objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, with the aim of raising the quality of publication scientific research, and raising the level of researchers in topics of national impact, which will reflect positively in the economic and development indicators.
The Ministry of Education introduced many qualitative initiatives in the field of scientific research, as it launched and implemented the institutional funding initiative, the post-doctoral fellowship support program, in addition to the international cooperation initiative, the directed social research initiative, and support for high-quality scientific publishing, as well as support for the infrastructure of universities, and promoting the international cooperation for researchers.
The Ministry implemented a series of programs on a parallel track in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship, as it developed a vision for pioneering universities and was applied to 3 universities. The Ministry launched the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centers Project and supported the empowerment of student innovation and entrepreneurship clubs, in addition to creating platforms for innovation and entrepreneurship, promoting the innovation system in universities, and supporting the entrepreneurship sector.
Publication in scientific research increased by 120%, as the number of research published by public universities reached (33588) during 2020. The Kingdom was the world leader in the efforts of universities to publish Coronavirus research, achieving the first place in the Arab world, (14) globally and (12) at the G20 level, according to the Web of Science database.
With regard to patents registered and granted locally and internationally to member staff of Saudi universities last year, they reached (143) patents. The Kingdom’s ranking improved in the global ranking of entrepreneurship in 2020 to the seventh place, as well as a research team from Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, funded by the Institutional Funding Program at the Ministry of Education, succeeded in inventing a vaccine for Coronavirus, the clinical trial phase was started, and the research was published in one of the international journals.