JEDDAH — The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have signed a memorandum of understanding to unite efforts to develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) research and modern technologies in the Kingdom. The MoU was signed by the CEO of the National Center for Artificial Intelligence, the innovative arm of SDAIA, Dr. Majid Al-Tuwaijri, and by KAUST President, Professor Tony Chan, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Thursday. The MoU supports science and technology research and improves its quality by launching a joint center for research and innovation in AI. The center will focus on many sectors, most notably health, energy, environment, water, agriculture, bioinformatics, and natural language processing. The two sides also seek to jointly achieve national goals, tackling both local and international challenges in data science and AI. Under the MoU, SDAIA and KAUST intend to work on joint development of academic programs and vocational training and provide mutual support to emerging companies in AI and marketing research and facilitating the exchange of experiences through faculty members and students. Furthermore, they intend to cooperate in infrastructure and data to use them in AI research and innovation in line with national policies and guidelines; to achieve lofty goals and objectives that support the Kingdom"s Vision 2030, and meet the leadership"s desire for the parties to unite and integrate their efforts that pushing Saudi Arabia forward. The president of SDAIA, Dr. Abdullah Bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi, stated that SDAIA continues its work with many entities to achieve integration, thanks to the continuous support by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, who is also the chairman of the Board of Directors of SDAIA. He added that SDAIA is taking a new step by signing the MoU with KAUST to promote research and innovation in the field of AI and support national talents. He pointed out that the signing of the MoU comes in implementation of the directives of our leadership to unify efforts between SDAIA and the national authorities, which aims primarily to make a tangible impact in many fields related to the achievement of the Kingdom"s Vision 2030. For his part, the president of KAUST, Prof. Tony Chan, stressed that the university is making major investments in the field of data science and AI, which support the university"s strategic directions to build the national capabilities and competencies that Saudi Arabia needs, to push the fourth industrial revolution in the world that will make Saudi Arabia a leading destination in the field of AI technology, in addition to enhancing its contribution to developing solutions to real-world problems. For his part, CEO of the National Center for AI, Dr. Majid Al-Tuwaijri, cited the strength of the infrastructure of both parties and considered utilizing AI to support research and technological sciences as a necessary step in light of the rapid developments and high standards of success, and to support development by using technical and human resources.