KING ABDULL AH UNIVER SIT Y OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
DIGITAL REPORT 2020
A living laboratory for innovation and advanced tech IN ASSOCIATION WITH
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A living laboratory for innovation and advanced tech
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KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Jason Roos, CIO at KAUST and Mohamed Abdel-Aal, Head of Digital Experience and Innovation at KAUST Smart, discuss the university’s living laboratory approach and research innovations
J
ason Roos has been the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at King Abdullah University of Science and
Technology (KAUST) for just under three years. 04
“Prior to coming to Saudi Arabia, I was the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Vice President of a large cancer research centre in Southern California and the CTO and Vice President of Stanford University’s medical centre. A vast amount of my career has been within an academic medical setting.” Reflecting on when he first started at KAUST, Roos explains that he was already familiar with the Middle East having lived in the UAE before. “However, I had never lived in Saudi Arabia,” comments Roos, “it wasn’t until I was brought onsite to see KAUST that I was truly convinced of how incredible the place is. KAUST is very unique. We are currently in our tenth year of existence, with the ambition to build a world-renowned research and academic institute for Master’s, and doctoral
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KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
“ We are a self-contained community – ‘a living laboratory’. It gives us the unique ability to develop and redefine smart cities and digital experiences”
degrees that is of the same caliber as MIT, the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University. Therefore, over the last 10 years we have been working to build state-ofthe-art facilities that will ultimately help to change the economic landscape of Saudi Arabia.” In addition to the research and academic institute, KAUST is surrounded
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— Jason Roos, CIO, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
by what Roos calls “a mini Silicon Valley”, to drive a culture of innovation and technological advancement. “As CIO I am not only responsible for the institute, but also for the entire ‘smart city’, comprising thousands of homes, as well as restaurants, shopping centres, a police department and a small hospital. Within the ‘smart city’ we have research centres from multiple Fortune 500 companies including Dow, Aramco and SABIC. Essentially, we are a self-contained community ‘a living laboratory’. That gives us the unique ability to develop and redefine smart cities and digital experiences for the people that live, work and study within KAUST.” Currently, within the world of technology, Roos highlights that, globally,
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07 there is a strong buzz around utilising
we have the ability to control almost
artificial intelligence, machine learning
every variable to thoroughly test these
and high-performance computing in
vehicles to develop a usable service.”
order to leverage autonomous func-
In addition to these trends Mohamed
tions and high levels of intelligence
Abdel-Aal, Head of Digital Experience
to enhance an organisation’s capa-
and Innovation at KAUST Smart, has
bilities. “At KAUST we want to utilise
also seen an increased empowerment
these trends within our ‘living labora-
of knowledge and decision making,
tory’ to drive innovation in computing,
due to the way users interact with their
personalised and precision medicine,
mobile phones has evolved. “It adds
population health, traffic control and
to the situational awareness, which
mobility, to name a few. One area that
provides a level of intelligence that we
we are looking into at the moment is
can apply to automation,” adds Roos,
the application of autonomous vehi-
“in the past you could automate, but
cles. Being an entire ecosystem city
you couldn’t predict, which is where w w w.ka ust . ed u . s a
KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
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artificial intelligence and machine learn-
the overall experience being provided
ing has really provided a difference in
to redefine and reimagine the basic
automation to customise the individual
portfolio. At KAUST we are looking
experience. This is something we are
to create a culture where people
looking to leverage to create an intel-
are allowed to experiment, to take
ligent and unique experience.”
risks and push boundaries to see
In order to achieve this Roos
what works and what doesn’t. If you
explains that there are multiple
don’t allow people to take risks - and
components to KAUST’s digital trans-
occasionally fail - then you won’t
formation strategy. “Although there is
encourage people to get out there
your traditional IT portfolio for basic
and try to push those boundaries to
applications to deliver your core busi-
create new innovations.”
ness functions, in order to go beyond
Currently at KAUST, Roos and
that and innovate, you need to look at
Abdel-Aal are working on a number
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Jason Roos Jason Roos has more than 25 years of experience leading and managing information systems and technology organizations across the defense, healthcare, higher education, and high tech industries, including international experience in Europe and the Middle East. He is currently the Chief Information Officer for King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) located just north of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Prior to joining KAUST in July of 2017, Jason served as the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at City of Hope Cancer Research Center in Los Angeles after serving for several years as the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Stanford Health Care at the Stanford University Medical Center where he led the overall technology direction and operational delivery for all of Stanford Medicine’s Adult Hospitals and Clinics. His career highlights include working as an executive for the leading cyber security firm Symantec, where he led the application development and production support teams supporting Symantec’s global e-commerce platform and experience as the Senior Director for Technology with the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi Hospital located in the United Arab Emirates. Jason began his career serving in various leadership roles for over ten years at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas. His military experience includes serving as an Electronic Warfare Signals Intelligence Analyst in the U.S. Army’s Military Intelligence Corps, and later as a Medical Service Corps Officer specializing in healthcare technology and biomedical systems management. His formal education includes completing a healthcare administration postgraduate fellowship at Texas Children’s Hospital, a MBA from Texas A&M University, a BA from the University of Houston, and a diploma from the Defense Language Institute’s school of Arabic in Monterey, California. w w w.ka ust . ed u . s a
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KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
“ If you don’t allow people to take risks – and occasionally fail – then you won’t encourage people to get out there and try to push those boundaries to create new innovations”
of innovation projects including autonomous vehicles, drone delivery, cashless pay and facial recognition. “Coming back to autonomous vehicles, we are assessing and experimenting with this technology for two different shuttles on a joint agreement that we’ve built with multiple companies,” comments Abdel-Aal who explains the complexity involved when innovating in this area. “The assessment of autonomous shuttles
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— Jason Roos, CIO, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
includes multiple dimensions, one being the operational aspect. Can we run these shuttles? Can we charge them? Can we maintain them? Will
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they withstand the heat? A second
Further detailing the current inno-
dimension is digital integration to
vations at KAUST, Roos explains
develop a smart experience which
the university’s development of its
poses questions such as, will users
computing and storage capabilities.
be able to look up the route on their
“When KAUST was first established,
phone? Can users book the shut-
our supercomputer “Shaheen” was
tles in advance? Can they interact
an IBM Blue Gene system which
with the experience using a smart
put KAUST on the map for high-
and interactive bus stop? The third
performance computing to support
dimension is the actual research of
our mission and research areas.
the vehicles, such as battery materi-
KAUST’s second generation super-
als and artificial intelligence sensor
computer – a Cray XC 40, which
technology. Finally the fourth dimen-
has been in place since 2015 - now
sion is optimised operational cost.”
supports the high-end research w w w.ka ust . ed u . s a
KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
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that we do. KAUST’s supercomputing environment is managed by our Core Laboratories, ensuring that our researchers and scientists have access to high-end compute capabilities, which are commonly used for high-resolution modeling, simulations, cloud and GPUs.” Other innovations the university is
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Mohamed Abdel-Aal Mohamed Abdel-Aal is the Manager of Research and Computing Infrastructure at King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST). KAUST is an international, graduate-level research institution on the shores of the Red Sea in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. In its eighth year of operations, KAUST is an ascending star of academic excellence with a mission to advance science and technology through bold and collaborative research. Mohamed oversees the University’s IT infrastructure, HPC cluster resources, cloud systems, data center facilities, and storage solutions. He also oversees strategic plans and initiatives to continuously improve computational capabilities and resources while introducing innovative solutions to the University’s faculty, researchers, and students. Mohamed holds an MBA degree and a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. w w w.ka ust . ed u . s a
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KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
working on include drone technology and cashless pay. “Currently at KAUST we are exploring the potential of using drones beyond basic surveillance. In fact, our team is working with our facilities and community life group to look at how we could leverage drones for delivery to our smart houses. To achieve this would require KAUST to replicate the layout of the city into a digital twin in order to create drone corridors to manage the flight patterns of the drones. 16
In terms of cashless payment, we are currently piloting various forms of cashless experiences, including
“ We have worked very closely with some of our partners and they have been valuable from the very beginning”
digital gateways and facial recognition to create a unique experience for the users. We are also looking to develop cashless stores—building an environment where someone could walk into a store, grab what they need and, via something like facial recognition, biometrics or barcoding, the person
— Jason Roos, CIO, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
is charged for what they have bought once they leave the store,” adds Roos. Reflecting on the university, Roos believes its biggest strengths are its world-class facilities for high-level
2009
Year founded
5,000 Number of employees
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tech research and innovation, and
worked very closely with some of our
its diversity in bringing the best from
partners and they have been valu-
around the world into one place. “I
able from the very beginning to drive
believe that KAUST, being only 10
innovation and develop technologies
years old and being world-renowned
and solutions. For KAUST, our part-
is a tremendous success. To achieve
nerships are critical for our success,”
this level of recognition after just
concludes Roos.
one decade is truly remarkable,” adds Roos, who highlights that this achievement has been a collaborative effort between the entire KUAST city, as well as its partnerships it has made over the years. “We have w w w.ka ust . ed u . s a
KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY THUWAL 23955 SAUDI AR ABIA www.kaust.edu.sa/en
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