Saudi businesses should support local inventors because they have a lot to offer the market, according to Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah, Minister of Education. He was speaking here on the opening day of the 2010 Ibtikar Exhibition Sunday at the Jeddah Hilton. Prince Faisal opened the event on behalf of King Abdullah. The event, organized by the King Abdul Aziz and His Companions Foundation for Talent and Creativity – “Mawhiba” – is now officially recognized by the International Federation of Inventors' Associations. Prince Faisal said that business people should visit the exhibition and see for themselves that Saudi inventors deserve support. A robot handed an electronic key to Prince Faisal to inaugurate the opening of the exhibition. More than 92 Saudi inventors from universities, schools and individuals had their inventions on display. The inventions were in various fields such as engineering, medicine, and environmental protection. Meanwhile, there was a brief moment of anxiety for organizers when young inventor Ibrahim Alem failed to extinguish a fire with a special liquid that was supposed to cool down and put out any fire. Organizers had to rush with fire extinguishers to put out the small blaze. Alem did not have enough of his special liquid to douse the fire. When he tried to repeat the experiment, he found that the electricity had been cut and he was not able to get a fire going. The exhibition is expected to reflect the 858 Saudi innovations registered over the last two years in areas of nanotechnology, energy and environment protection, medicine and pharmacology, engineering, water desalination and information technology. Awards of SR50,000 each in various fields will be given to academics and researchers.
