"Why don't we have a private sector that pumps money into universities and tells a specialist professor: point your research in this direction?" 48:10
From the episode
- The Liverpool moment (46:28). He paid his own master's fees at Liverpool. The classmate beside him, in the same lectures, was being paid. The difference was sponsored research: a company was funding his work (47:03).
- Why a company pays (47:23). The company backs a leading professor on a problem it expects to face in two or three years. It then owns the papers and any patents, and can "own the market" when the problem arrives (47:54).
- What he wishes existed here (48:27). Companies would fund university research, then support a patentability check before publication, a study of the research's role, and commercialisation, turning patents into a profitable business. Rights would be shared with the researchers (48:41).
- KnowledgeX's aim (49:22). To create at least part of that ecosystem. (Asked whether he has hired 1,800 researchers yet, he laughs: "Not yet.")
- Models abroad (49:53). The team studied research ecosystems in Australia and New Zealand, Europe (especially Switzerland), the UK and the US, both medical and Silicon Valley. Building one is a government-scale job, because deep-tech funding is "like a black hole": you can't know when or how much it will return (51:02).
- RDIA's priorities (51:19). The Research, Development and Innovation Authority set national priorities that researchers can align with. They are broad enough that most research can be fitted to one.
The idea, explained
Sponsored research is a contract. A company pays a university lab to work on a question. In return it gets early access to results and usually first rights to license any resulting patents. The university keeps the right to publish, typically after a short review delay so patents can be filed first (see chapter 4). Students funded this way get a stipend, real-world data and often a job offer.
Why it matters for an economy:
- Professors work on problems that someone will pay to solve.
- Companies get specialist talent they could not hire full-time.
- Graduates move into industry with research skills.
What exists in Saudi Arabia today:
- National priorities. On 1 July 2022 the Crown Prince announced four national R&D priorities: health and wellness, sustainable environment and essential needs, energy and industrial leadership, and economies of the future. The target is annual R&D spending of 2.5% of GDP by 2040 (The National).
- University spin-outs. Startups from KAUST had raised more than USD 1 billion by November 2025, with combined revenue of USD 925 million (KAUST).
- Industry bridges. KnowledgeX positions itself here. Its Riciety platform matches private-sector challenges with researchers (KnowledgeX).
Side note: how people work in research
The stories in the episode show that "researcher" is not one job. Common roles in industry research:
| Role | Typical background | What they do |
|---|---|---|
| Research scientist | PhD | Sets research questions, publishes |
| Applied scientist or research engineer | Master's or PhD, strong coding | Turns methods into working systems on real data |
| Data scientist | Any degree, strong statistics | Models business data, runs experiments |
| Research software engineer | Engineering background | Builds the tools, pipelines and platforms researchers rely on |
| IP or technology-transfer specialist | Law, engineering or science | Patentability, licensing, spin-outs |
The paper Salla's merchant benefited from needed a rainfall-model scientist and data scientists and someone to translate the results for the merchant. Most teams are mixed like this.
Try it
Tap a region to see how its research reaches industry, or a Saudi priority to see the kind of research it covers.
Key terms
Sponsored research · Technology transfer · Commercialisation · RDIA · National R&D priorities · Spin-out.