Governor of Riyadh Region Honors Winners of Almarai Scientific Creativity Award

Under the patronage of the Governor of the Riyadh Region, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, a ceremony honoring the winners of the 2024 Almarai Scientific Creativity Award was held yesterday evening  at the Siraj Conference Hall in Riyadh. The event, organized by Almarai Company in collaboration with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), was attended by several princes, the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef, the Minister of Education, Yousef bin Abdullah Al-Benyan, and a number of senior officials and dignitaries.
On this occasion, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Almarai Prince Naif bin Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Kabeer, and the President of KACST and Chairman of the Award’s Board Dr. Munir Eldesouki expressed their appreciation to the Governor of the Riyadh Region for his patronage. They emphasized that this gesture reflects his commitment to supporting science, technology, and innovation, and to honoring distinguished scientists and researchers from around the world.
They congratulated the winners, whose outstanding work will contribute to innovative solutions that enhance food security in dryland regions, particularly in light of environmental challenges such as desertification, climate change, and population growth. They also extended their gratitude to the Saudi leadership for its continuous support of research, development, and innovation, and called on the private sector to launch more initiatives that address environmental and developmental challenges through integrated partnerships with government and research institutions.
During the ceremony, Dr. Eldesouki announced the launch of the Food Security Excellence Center, a joint initiative with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and Wageningen University in the Netherlands. The center aims to serve as a strategic hub for innovation, addressing challenges facing food systems, developing national talent, and strengthening international research partnerships.
Prince Naif bin Sultan highlighted that since its inception over 20 years ago, the Almarai Scientific Creativity Award has achieved remarkable success and earned a distinguished scientific reputation. He noted that the award’s new strategy reflects a qualitative expansion in supporting scientific research and innovation at both national and international levels, making it one of the most prominent global awards in its field.
He reaffirmed Almarai’s belief that investing in scientific research and creative minds is the best path toward building a prosperous future, and emphasized that the company will continue supporting researchers and innovators through strategic partnerships with leading national institutions, foremost among them KACST, to enhance the Kingdom’s position in scientific research globally.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, Prince Faisal bin Bandar honored the winners of both the national and international categories. The International Almarai Award, valued at $500,000 and considered the largest global award in the field of food security in dryland regions, was presented to the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) for its project, “Enhancing Food Security in Arab Countries.”
The Almarai Scientific Innovation Award (national category) was granted to Dr. Fahad Al-Shehri, Associate Professor at King Saud University, for his research titled “Integrating machine learning and deep learning with explainable AI to improve groundwater quality prediction and decision-making in dry regions of the Kingdom.” It was also awarded to Dr. Nada Salem Al-Dhiab, Assistant Professor at King Saud University, for her research titled “Preliminary genomic sequencing of bacterial isolates from potato crops and the use of nanoparticles to stimulate secondary metabolite synthesis”.