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DAMMAM: Fresh off her Fashion Award win at the National Cultural Awards, Princess Nourah Al-Faisal headed to the Eastern Province this week for the first Design Research Forum.

A lavender carpet was rolled out at Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University (formerly the University of Dammam), where the all-day forum — the first of its kind — brought together students, academics and enthusiasts from across the Kingdom in the name of design research.

The CEO of Art of Heritage and founder of Adhlal, a Riyadh-based consultancy supporting the creative economy, Princess Nourah told Arab News that it was “a full circle moment.”

“I came here (IAU) in 2017 as part of the first industry report. We did part of our first focus groups here, and some of the people, some of the partners that we brought to participate with us, actually were part of that as well,” she said.

Princess Nourah explained that bridging academia and industry was central to Adhlal’s mission and long-term strategy: “When we originally did our first industry report, we understood right then that one of the big gaps was this connection between academia and the industry.”

She described the forum as “one of the first and definitely the biggest event that we’ve had that focuses on the importance of research in innovation, research in design, research in developing ideas and strategies.

“When you think about all of these big projects, how do you create them in a way that revolves around the Saudi human who lives here?

Judging the poster competition, she was “very, very impressed. I mean, the technical knowledge, the thought process, the clarity, and just the design of the posters.

“Today is, I think, a new beginning for us at Adhlal. We are hoping to do this annually and to see it grow,” she said.

The posters covered relevant themes such as sustainability and AI. Princess Nourah likened today’s AI frenzy to the Industrial Revolution: “That’s why the human-centered skills are the most important— everything else, you can learn.”

She also reflected on a pilot project with Effat University: “I am overwhelmed by how many of them finally understood how important and life-changing good design can be; to improve people’s lives and connect with people.”

Workshops and panels rounded out the day, including a lecture by Badr Al-Rasheed of the Architecture and Design Commission and Donia Belttaib of King Abdulaziz University.

The Adhlal Experience in Jeddah Al-Balad panel was moderated by IAU’s Lujain Rafea, with contributions from Adhlal’s Jeroen Frumau, Effat University’s Ahmed Kassab and his former student, now colleague, Deena Shahadah.

IAU leader and educator Sara Alghamdi told Arab News the forum showcased the strength of student research: “Our students are capable and have a lot of potential. Last year, we had 33 patents from our college — nobody knows about it,” Alghamdi said.

“To incentivize the students, to show them that we can do collaborations with other parties, to empower them, there are cash prizes.”

From 55 submissions, 20 were shortlisted and reviewed by a jury panel that included Princess Nourah. Rawabi sponsored the top three prizes — SR5,000, SR4,000 and SR2,000 — with additional People’s Choice and publication prizes to come.

The top winning project, “Assessing the usability of bio-textiles made of palm waste in carryalls,” was created by seniors Salam Al-Abdulaal, Fatimah Al-Kardoos, Maram Al-Sagar, Ghada Hantoush and Majd Al-Osaimi.

Al-Abdulaal, who is local to the area, told Arab News about the importance of using date palm waste as it is abundant in her hometown: “This is a part of everyday life here, date palms and farms. We are interested in sustainability due to our environment, and we also have been doing some projects previously about this.”

Al-Kardoos added: “We started with the research saying that we want to assess the usability of the bio textile that comes from the palm tree waste and compare it with the conventional leather. Is it usable as much as the conventional leather or not?”

With prototypes in hand and guidance from IAU professors, the students contacted professionals in the Netherlands who had done similar projects and tested carryalls made from palm-derived textiles.

Al-Sagar added: “After we analyzed all of the data that we gathered from all the participants, we experimented with each one of them and we conducted a very successful outcome of our findings.”

The team plans to split the cash prize equally— then “go out to lunch.”