News highlights
In alignment with Princess Nourah University’s commitment to empowering women and enhancing their leadership in the knowledge economy and sustainable development, the University’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center implemented a comprehensive set of training and awareness initiatives during the previous academic year in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship, benefiting more than 3,000 participants from PNU students and staff, in addition to external participants. The Center carried out more than eighty specialized activities, including workshops, training courses, digital sessions, dialogue panels, entrepreneurial bootcamps, and targeted training programs, and recorded ten local patents, one international patent, and eighteen patents under process, bringing the total intellectual property registered by PNU affiliates last year to twenty-nine, with three patents winning national patent awards. The Center also participated in the 50th Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions, which featured around 900 inventors from forty countries, earning four silver medals and three bronze medals for innovations including a “Fixed Reference Marker in Dentistry,” a “Smart Wheelchair Operated by Brain Signals and Eye Blink,” a “Gum-Supported Tool for Isolating Structurally Damaged Teeth for Rubber Dam Placement,” and an “Anti-Diabetic Pharmaceutical Formula Containing Friedelin.” The Center strengthened its impact by launching an Artificial Intelligence Incubator within CODE Lab in partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, introducing the University Startup Growth Accelerator in collaboration with Monsha’at, organizing a digital manufacturing “Make-athon,” hosting the “InPower” bootcamp, and presenting the “Inspired Entrepreneurship” event, in addition to earning recognition in the Sustainability Innovation Challenge for a breakthrough solution in desertification mitigation. Dr. Maram Sabri, Director of the Center, emphasized that “the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center is a key pillar in promoting a culture of innovation and nurturing entrepreneurial thinking among students and staff, playing a pivotal role in empowering Saudi women academically and professionally through specialized programs, support for emerging startups, and the development of creative ideas into viable business models.” Innovation centers worldwide play a critical role in fostering innovative thinking, enabling students and faculty to develop technologies that positively affect society, contributing to job creation, knowledge transfer, and driving the innovation-based economy on which countries depend for sustainable development. The Center’s efforts directly support PNU’s 2025 Strategic Plan by preparing a competitive generation of women capable of global and local contribution and enhancing female participation in the innovation ecosystem in alignment with Saudi Vision 2030.
