SDG9: INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9, "Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure," underscores the importance of building resilient and sustainable infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and fostering innovation. In Kuwait, a country with a rapidly growing economy, there is a significant emphasis on achieving this goal. GUST Gulf University is playing a pivotal role in contributing to these efforts by fostering innovation and addressing infrastructure needs.
Kuwait's Progress in Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure:
Kuwait has been proactive in advancing infrastructure, innovation, and industry development:
1. Infrastructure Development: Kuwait has invested in modernizing its infrastructure, including transportation networks, ports, and utilities, to support economic growth and development. Projects like the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Causeway exemplify this commitment.
2. Innovation Hubs: Initiatives like the Kuwait Innovation Center have been established to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in the country. These hubs provide resources and support for startups and innovators.
3. Investment in Education: Kuwait is investing in its education system to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. The country recognizes that a well-educated workforce is crucial for driving innovation and industrialization.
GUST Gulf University's Contribution:
GUST Gulf University actively contributes to achieving SDG 9 in Kuwait:
1. Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programs: GUST offers programs and courses that foster innovation and entrepreneurship among its students. These initiatives help students develop the skills and mindset needed to drive innovation in various industries.
2. Research and Development: The university conducts research in fields related to industry and infrastructure development. Faculty and students engage in projects that address real-world challenges and contribute to innovative solutions.
3. Collaboration: GUST collaborates with government and industry partners on projects related to infrastructure and innovation. These partnerships help bridge the gap between academia and industry.
4. Skill Development: GUST Gulf University focuses on equipping students with practical skills that are relevant to industry needs. This ensures that graduates are prepared to contribute to Kuwait's industrial growth.
Kuwait's commitment to SDG 9 reflects its vision for a more innovative and infrastructure-resilient future. GUST Gulf University plays an essential role in this journey by nurturing a culture of innovation, conducting relevant research, and preparing its students to be drivers of positive change in industry and infrastructure development. Together, Kuwait and institutions like GUST are working towards a more sustainable and innovative future, aligning with the principles of SDG 9.
Digital Innovation & Robotics Automation Laboratory
Vision
To be a leading hub for innovation and research in the field of robotics automation, 3D-printing, and prototyping, providing students and faculty with a state-of-the-art facility to bring their ideas to life while engaging with the wider community through outreach programs.
Mission
To provide students and faculty with a collaborative and inclusive learning environment to explore and innovate in the fields of robotics automation, programming, 3D-printing, and prototyping. Through the provision of cutting-edge technologies and resources, the lab aims to support and facilitate research and development that advances the understanding and application of these technologies. In addition, the lab is committed to promoting community engagement and outreach through a range of initiatives and programs.
Objectives
To establish partnerships and collaborations with local industries, government agencies, and non-profit organizations to provide opportunities for real-world application of research and projects.
To organize and host a series of workshops, seminars, and training sessions on robotics automation, 3D-printing, and prototyping for students, faculty, and the wider community.
To create and develop innovative projects and solutions using the latest technology, with the aim of advancing the state-of-the-art in the field of robotics automation.
To provide students with opportunities to prototype their own ideas and innovations, and to work on projects that have the potential to make a positive impact on society.
To create a vibrant and inclusive community of learners and innovators, fostering a culture of collaboration, creativity, and experimentation.
To regularly update and maintain the equipment and resources available in the lab, ensuring that they are up-to-date and meeting the needs of students and faculty.
To contribute to the academic and research programs of the university, providing a platform for faculty to conduct applied research in the fields of digitization and automation.
To regularly evaluate the effectiveness of the lab's activities and improvements based on feedback from students, faculty, and the wider community.
Booking System
DIRA Lab is available and accessiable to faculty and students. In order to visit the lab, you need to book a time slot that suits you from the link below:
GUST Students Wins First Place at the Rowad Innovation Program
For the second time, GUST students were awarded first place at Warba Bank’s Pioneers of Innovation Rowad Program, which was organized for the 4th time. The four students competed against three other local university teams for the prize after attending a 3-week program of customized workshops and lectures led by Warba Bank, which kicked off on October 23rd 2022 and continued until December 15th 2022. The program aims to support the innovation of banking services and develop creative solutions in the Islamic banking sector.
The participating GUST students were: Abdulrazzaq Al Eisa, Khalifa Al Enezi, Essa Al Noufal, and Sarah Al Enezi, who were selected by a Warba Bank Committee to participate in the program. Over the three weeks, they completed workshops and lectures to learn all the essential information in the banking field, such as the different services and products currently available, to complete the assignment successfully. The other participating universities were Kuwait University, Australian University, and the American University of Kuwait.
During the closing ceremony, the students presented their ideas to a panel of industry experts. They were evaluated based on their final presentation, innovative & fresh thinking, the practicality of implementing their ideas, and team effort in meeting all the requirements. As a result, the GUST team was awarded the first-place prize for their innovative ideas and stellar presentation.
GUST CS Students Visit Digital Innovation Center at Boubyan Bank
GUST Computer Science students, from the Software Engineering class, paid a visit to the Digital Innovation Center at Boubyan Bank, as part of a collaboration between the two entities. They were accompanied by their professor, Dr. Mahmoud Elish, and teaching assistant, Mariam Kinawi.
The visit started with a presentation about the working mechanism in the center, and gave the students an overview of the adopted software development process model for mobile and web application development and evolution. The students were then given a tour of the facility to get an inside look into the center’s work environment, and experience how the agile deployment approach is being applied. The visit concluded with a fruitful discussion on our students’ proposed capstone project ideas. They were able to get feedback on their ideas and ask questions on how to enhance them.
GUST always stresses the importance of practical experience alongside academic knowledge.
GUST Wins Top Tier Position in the Startup Kuwait National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Challenge
GUST students won a top tier position at the final round of the Startup Kuwait National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Challenge for Fall 2016/2017, held earlier this month at the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The challenge rounded up the top teams from different schools across the country, after several qualifying rounds, to compete.
Seven teams from institutions and universities around the country participated, including Kuwait University, Arab Open University, and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET), qualified for this round after a grueling selection process. The remaining four teams were from GUST.
The winning team from GUST was TechnoFunGames, composed of Meshari Alabdulhadi, and Abdulmohsen Alfulaij; was mentored by Dr. Ali Roumani. TechnoFunGames is a gaming studio which sells smartphone games and helps aspiring game developers learn how to prepare and sell their own games. A game created by their studio, called Pass the Torch, has been played more than 15,000 times, by more than 5,000 people in more than 100 countries, and managed to score a rating of 4.1/5 by users. Pass the Torch was selected as the winner of Kuwait Imagine Cup competition held by Microsoft last year.
GUST Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Salah Al-Sharhan, said “The university prides itself in fostering and developing our students’ talents. This competition is just one of the ways in which we can help develop not only our students’ ideas, but also specific skills such as conducting presentations, nurturing innovative business ideas, entrepreneurship and teamwork. We are extremely proud of our winners, and also proud of our students who went out of their comfort zone, and participated in this event.”
GUST students who also made it to the finals include: Duaa Al-Mousawi, Fajer Al-Qadeeri, Heba Al-Arradi, Lana Aboalnaaj, Saleh Al-Najem and Shahad Al-Shenifi, and their supervisors Dr. Mohamed Elian, Dr. Ali Roumani, and Muhammad A. B. Ilyas.
Startup Kuwait is an initiative launched by Global Centre at Kuwait University to encourage students to understand the challenges and opportunities of entrepreneurship, and be able to work on and launch their own business ideas. As part of this initiative, students are encouraged to work on innovative ideas which can be successfully turned into real businesses. The ideas go through several rounds of filtering before qualifying for the final round.
GUST Organized The 1st Kuwait National Robotics Competition
The 1st Kuwait National Robotics Competition, organized by Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) and sponsored by Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), concluded on March 5th, 2023, with great success, showcasing remarkable teamwork among 16 teams from different schools across the country, who demonstrated their technical skills and creativity in building and programming their robots to complete various challenges.
The competition emphasized the importance of teamwork and collaboration, as students worked together under the supervision of their teachers to design, build and program robots that can solve complex problems. The teams competed in three categories: Design Award, Robot Skills Award, and Tournament Championship Award. Selected team from Middle and High school will be invited by RECF to represent Kuwait in the world championship in Dallas, USA, and compete against other top teams from around the world.
The National Robotics Competition is part of the international VEX Robotics competition and is organized in partnership with the Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation. The VEX Robotics competition provides students with the opportunity to explore the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), inspiring them to pursue careers in these fields.
This year's competition also marked the opening of GUST's new laboratory - Digital Innovation and Robotics Automation Lab (DIRA Lab). The new facility provides students with advanced tools and equipment to enhance their skills and knowledge in robotics and automation, preparing them to meet the challenges of the future.
Dr. Noura Aljeri, Chair of DIRA Laboratory said, “We wish the winning teams the best of luck in representing Kuwait at the World Championship and look forward to seeing more talented students at next year's National Robotics Competition.”
GUST Hosts TESOL Conference
Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) hosted the third Annual Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Conference at its campus in Mishref, carrying the theme Innovation, Creativity, Communication: Facing Novel Challenges in TESOL.” 500 local and regional educators who teach English attended the event.
Invited to the event were prominent professors and educators, including Professor David Crystal whose keynote focused on “ The Centrality of Pragmatics”; Professor Farzad Sharifian, whose keynote was titled “ Cultural Conceptualizations in Language Teaching”; Professor Mihaela Irimia, whose keynote was titled “Literature, the Storehouse of Memory and Topoi of Remembrance”; and Professor Karen Price, whose keynote was titled “ Digital Learning & Interaction: Innovation, Creativity, Communication.” The conference also included over 20 workshops, 30 presentations and 5 panel discussions for the attendees to choose from based on their specialties and interests.
Dr. Hussain Al Sharoufi, the organizer of the TESOL Kuwait Conference, said, “I’d like to thank everybody who helped put everything together and help accomplish our goal that to create a veritable knowledge hub for students and educators alike. The aim of this conference was to explore the notions of innovation, creativity, and communication with regards to teaching English to speakers of other languages. My sincere hope is that this event acted as a focal point where various perspectives met, and that educators walked away with new ideas to implement in their classrooms.”
Conference attendees were exposed to new methods on how to teach English to native Arabic speakers, in addition to gaining insight about the latest innovations and research in the field of English language teaching. The event also offered an opportunity for attendees to network with educators throughout Kuwait and the region benefiting from this conference as English is their medium of instruction.
Professor Donald Bates, GUST President, said, “It is an honour that such a prestigious event would take place on our campus. This way, we can show the world that GUST is serious about becoming a centre for learning, growth, and development for students and educators alike.”
TESOL Kuwait is a non-profit organization of teachers to speakers of other languages affiliated with the U.S. based TESOL International, housing 46,000 members worldwide. TESOL seeks to improve the teaching and learning of English and content subjects to non-native speakers of English. It is a professional community committed to advancing excellence in English language teaching. The community fosters the exchange of ideas, research and peer-to-peer knowledge, and provides expertise, resources, and a voice on issues affecting the profession.
GUST takes a special interest in finding advances ways to teach the English language, which is reflected in the international standards implemented in its Foundation Program, which was accredited by the CEA in 2013. The university continuously implements the best methods to develop its curricula and ensure a premier educational experience for its students.
GUST’s Gulf Financial Center Welcomes Industry Experts to Deliver Pre-Incubation Module to Students
GUST Gulf Financial Center (GFC) hosted industry experts to deliver a pre-incubation module to GUST 440 Practicum students. The module titled “Writing Business Plan-Financials” was scheduled every Monday and Wednesday from October 29th to November 7th, 2018. The instructors facilitating the sessions came from Cubical Services Business Incubator, a Kuwaiti-based company founded in 2009 with experience in a range of fields including entrepreneurship and finance. Cubical Services have worked with close to 1,000 entrepreneurs and on over 600 projects with startups in numerous industries.
Being a social enterprise, Cubical Services is also Kuwait’s first officially licensed, one-stop business incubator, and was also the first to be qualified by the National Fund. Cubical Services strives to actively encourage current and potential entrepreneurs to successfully execute their business ambitions by offering all-inclusive services and support in every part of an entrepreneurs’ business cycle to create a healthy ecosystem where entrepreneurs can fulfil their business potential in order to enrich the Kuwaiti economy and elevate its talents regionally and internationally.
The instructors come from diverse backgrounds related to entrepreneurship such as investment, marketing, economics, and finance. The session began with an introduction by Maysoon Al-Attar, the Vice President of the Marketing & Sales Department with previous experience working for marketing agencies and international youth organizations locally and internationally. Al-Attar opened the sessions with engaging ice-breakers, and relevant information about defining a business incubator, what Cubical Services does and what it’s purpose is.
The session was then taken forward by the CEO and Founding Partner of Cubical Services, Abdulrahman Al-Fawaz, who covered topics such as sources of start-up funding locally and internationally, credit ratings, pricing, and cash-flow budgets. Al-Fawaz developed the concept of the company and has overseen its operations since inception. Al-Fawaz comes from a private equity and finance background and has served on board of numerous subsidiary & sister companies in the investment, logistics, real estate and industrial sectors. He has extensive experience in analyzing feasibility studies, business planning and operational control.
CEO and Founding Partner of Cubical Services, Abdulrahman Al-Fawaz, said: “The students were so appreciative of the practical learning opportunity in entrepreneurship to support their theoretic knowledge, and this was evidence in itself of how ambitious they are, and how much potential they have. It was also great to have discussions with them at such early stages for what may come when they are out in the “real-world” when they start their SME’s. We are looking forward to growing future collaborations with GUST and their students!”
The session closed off with Fay Al-Zouman, the Entrepreneurship Programs Divisions Business Development Officer, who introduced Cubical Services CSR Program, and the Fikra Program; a 6-month training program that takes on 15 business ideas, gives them all the appropriate tools, knowledge, mentoring, networking opportunities and more, to ensure that they are ready to operate successfully.
The following sessions were hefty with content and interactive for students with hands on material and practice, delivered by Cubical Services SME Division Manager, Salem Al-Mutawa who covered topics such as preparing basic financial statements; Identifying types of expenses for startups; and identify the break-even point for the business.
Director of the Gulf Financial Center and Associate Professor of Economics, Dr. Fida Karam, said “The GFC is proud to have collaborated with such a highly regarded entity in the local market to support our students and provide them with the right tools and hands-on experience to establish their business.”
The GFC continuously works on collaborating with local and international experts to create mentorship and apprenticeship opportunities for GUST students, as well as provide them the opportunity to gain valuable information from experienced individuals and industry leaders.
Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry Masters Scholarships
The Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) is granting five scholarships for students to pursue a master’s degree in Business Administration or Commercial Law.
For more information on how to apply, visit kuwaitchamber.org or call 22439580. Deadline to apply is 1:00pm on Thursday, May 26th 2016.
