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Saudi Aramco and Kaust to invest $100m in R&D

By Akshata Kamath
Researchers at Kaust's Polymer Synthesis Laboratory. Saudi Aramco and the university are investing $100m in R&D Kaust
Researchers at Kaust's Polymer Synthesis Laboratory. Saudi Aramco and the university are investing $100m in R&D
  • 10-year investment
  • Green tech prioritised
  • Sustainable materials also a focus

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust) are to invest $100 million in research and development projects. 

The 10-year investment will support projects focused on energy transition, sustainability, materials innovation, upstream technologies and digital solutions, aiming for both environmental and commercial benefits. 

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The partnership will also prioritise the development of sustainable technologies such as carbon capture and storage in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 to wean the kingdom off dependence on hydrocarbons. 

Earlier this year, Aramco agreed a five-year deal with Kaust to establish a technology consortium called Enercomp. The consortium is an initiative to study and improve the performance and durability of non-metallic and composite materials in energy applications.

Last month Google provided a research grant to Kaust of $100,000 to fund research in multilingual and multimodal machine learning, and the development of large language models.

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