Leveraging KAUST as a Living Laboratory for Smart City Experiments

LEVERAGING KAUST AS A LIVING LABORATORY FOR SMART CITY EXPERIMENTS

KAUST is working on smart cities with leading international companies such as Intel, Cisco Systems and Microsoft

With innovations and technical studies ranging from autonomous vehicles to on-campus dining, KAUST Smart has developed a range of partnerships with leading international companies that explore new possibilities and solve intractable problems in everyday urban life. By viewing the university’s campus as a living laboratory, KAUST Smart and its commercial partners are poised to deliver on the promise of these emerging technologies over the course of the coming years.

One of the most visible collaborations is a shiny red Audi sedan in which KAUST Smart has installed an autonomous-driving platform with Intel, the semiconductor giant, and Egyptian tech firm Brightskies. With semi-autonomous shuttles already in operation, the roads on campus are more ideal than most for experimentation because they offer an environment to test new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in a controlled manner. The car features Intel’s chips, Brightskies’ software, and insight and expertise from KAUST Smart researchers and faculty.

One of the longest-running KAUST Smart partnerships is with Cisco Systems, which has been a vendor to and partner of the university since KAUST was established in 2008. KAUST Smart considers the company’s technologies as key to the establishment of a smart city and connected campus. They help in the monitoring and cognitive analysis of data collected on how the KAUST community lives and works, which facilitates the community engagement that KAUST leaders consider crucial to ensuring that smart city innovations are human-centric. One such example is wayfinding – the process of guiding people through their environment in a way that goes beyond merely providing directions from one point to another, to instead helping them understand the amenities, sites and other highlights along their planned route. Cisco’s technologies also allow for crowdsourcing to influence innovation processes and for people to be involved in design thinking. This problem-solving method begins with understanding the unmet needs of individuals, and then proceeds to the development of concepts and prototypes for experimentation. According to the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, businesses that deploy design thinking see substantial improvements in their performance, highlighting the tool’s potential.

MOHAMED ABDEL-AAL Director of Digital Experience and Innovation

KAUST PRESENTS A UNIQUE CAMPUS WITH UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES. THROUGH AN EXPERIENCE-FOCUSED DESIGN METHODOLOGY, KAUST SMART IS ABLE TO DELIVER RAPID EXPERIMENTATIONS THAT ENGAGE THE COMMUNITY, INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT.

INTEL

“Intel is very excited to collaborate with KAUST and Brightskies in the field of AI and autonomous driving, especially as it aligns with Vision 2030. Through this partnership, we will give local researchers a customizable platform for their algorithms and prepare them to play a role in the global automotive industry.”

Ahmad Ali Alabduljabbar, Saudi Arabia General Manager at Intel Microsoft and SAP are two other commercial partners that trace their history at KAUST back to its founding. Microsoft invited on-campus leaders to the Microsoft Executive Briefing Center at the company’s US headquarters in Redmond, Washington shortly after it was established. Discussions on this trip led to ongoing collaboration and design-thinking sessions that positioned KAUST and its campus as a living laboratory for smart city experiences. The partnership is currently focused on optimizing the university’s use of Microsoft products, and building on that foundation to create new and innovative experiences.

For SAP, the provider of the end-to-end software that manages university systems, partnerships with KAUST Smart scholars have included improving the smartphone apps that rely on campus data, as well as reimagining existing processes such as the on-campus dining experience. In the latter, significant opportunities exist to automate processes to make them more streamlined and social, including enhanced online ordering capabilities and software to help connect people by alerting them to where friends might be planning to have a meal.

Another of KAUST Smart’s key domestic commercial partners is Averos, a company that develops new wayfinding technologies. It is also a partner to Saudi public and private leaders such as Aramco, Riyadh Airports and the Ministry of Interior. KAUST Smart uses Averos technologies to test new experiences on campus, as well as how visitors navigate during their trips. “As a local Saudi-based technology startup, Averos is grateful for the strong support and partnership that KAUST has shown for our state-of-the-art indoor navigation and positioning solution,” Yusuf Sabadia, CEO of Averos, said. “KAUST has been proactive and engaged with us to further improve our system in creating a more user-friendly and experience-rich end product.”