In active response to Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030" strategy, and to push the economic, trade, and scientific and technological cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia to a new height, the "China-Saudi International Exchange Summit & the 8th KAUST Alumni High-level Talent Project Matchmaking Event" was held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province from October 16th to 18th, 2025. The event included project roadshows, technical sharing sessions, as well as visits and exchanges to industrial parks and enterprises. Aimed at building a high-end platform for China-Saudi Arabia cooperation in science, technology and industry, this event also provided comprehensive support for Chinese enterprises to explore the Saudi Arabian market.
This event brought together over 100 participants, including KAUST experts and scholars, representatives from Saudi Arabian enterprises, heads of Chinese enterprises, representatives from investment and financing institutions, representatives from the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Beijing, and relevant officials from Chinese government agencies. Focusing on cutting-edge fields such as energy, environment, life and health, computing, and new materials, the event featured roadshows of entrepreneurial projects including Formic Acid Energy Storage For Low-carbon Economy, Sustainable Cleaning Solutions, Operation Of RO/NF Systems With Smart Energy Recovery, Standardized Protocols For Ingredient Identification And Analysis In Complex Formulations, Gamified Fitness, Desktop-level AI 3D Printing Filaments, and Component-level Photovoltaic Digital Solutions. It also included technical sharing sessions on topics like Electrospray Technology For Manufacturing Human Blastocyst-like Structures And Organoids, AI For Virtual Cell Construction, Ibtikar Agri Center Overview, Empowering Saudi Industrial Advancement With Harsh-Environment Intelligent Sensing Technology, Lubricants And Functional Fluids, Sunlight-Based Communication System, and Catalytic Ozonation For Drinking Water Purification. Project leaders conducted in-depth and active interactions with on-site investment institutions and relevant enterprises. Participants gained insights into Saudi Arabia's top-tier scientific research and industrial networks as well as Hangzhou's innovation and entrepreneurship environment, laying a solid foundation for project implementation and operation, enterprises' overseas expansion, and accurate alignment with the great market demand under Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030". Additionally, this project matching conference facilitated the establishment of Zhejiang Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Demonstration Base of KAUST China Alumni Chapter in Zhejiang Yuhang Economic Development Zone. This marks the first time the KAUST China Alumni Chapter has set up an industrial base, which intends to leverage the engineering advantages of KAUST alumni and the industrial strengths of Zhejiang Yuhang Economic Development Zone to jointly build an intelligent manufacturing production base focusing on three key areas: new equipment, new energy, and new materials, and create a new engine for China-Saudi Arabia cooperation.
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia is a top-tier research institution in the Middle East. Founded in 2009, it is known as the "MIT of the Middle East". Equipped with 4 Centers of Excellence, 12 research centers, and 12 core laboratories, KAUST has in-depth collaboration with international leading enterprises such as Saudi Aramco and SABIC, boasting strong scientific research capabilities. The KAUST China Alumni Chapter has gathered alumni resources with profound practical experience in fields like new energy, biomedicine, and new materials, which can continuously promote the implementation of high-level talent programs and projects between China and Saudi Arabia. According to Dr Jian Pan, President of the KAUST China Alumni Chapter, since 2018, the KAUST Alumni High-Level Talent Project Matching Event has been successfully held in Hangzhou for eight consecutive years, including the years with COVID-19. It has connected a total of 85 high-level projects, hosted more than 160 alumni experts, and facilitated the industrialization of projects and international scientific research cooperation on multiple occasions. In addition, this 8th event has been fully upgraded, being presented in the form of the "China-Saudi Arabia International Exchange Summit" for the first time, and simultaneously launching Zhejiang Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Demonstration Base of KAUST China Alumni Chapter to provide substantive support for China-Saudi Arabia cooperation in science, technology and industry.
This event is not only an important milestone in scientific and technological exchanges between China and Saudi Arabia, but also a concrete practice to serve the dual-cycle development pattern (domestic and international economic cycles). By gathering high-end resources from both sides and building a market-oriented and international cooperation mechanism, the event will provide full-process support for Chinese enterprises expanding into the Saudi Arabian market, covering aspects from technology matching, policy guidance to industrial implementation. It will also inject KAUST alumni innovation impetus into Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030".