The Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) will bring its Research and Innovation Conference to Saudi Arabia for the first time this week, as the region’s chemical industry gathers to examine the technologies, talent and research expected to shape its next phase of growth.

 

The eighth edition of the GPCA Research and Innovation Conference will be held on September 16-17 under the theme “Innovation that Delivers: Empowering Research and Talent for Tomorrow.”

 

The two-day conference is set to bring together senior industry executives, researchers, academics and government officials to discuss how companies can strengthen innovation cultures, develop future talent and deploy emerging technologies to address challenges facing the chemical sector.

 

The opening day will feature a plenary address by Ahmad O Al-Khowaiter, Executive Vice President for Technology & Innovation at Aramco, followed by a ministerial address from Majid Algwaiz, Deputy Minister of Development and Project Management at Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy.

 

Waleed Al-Shalfan, Vice President for Corporate Sustainability at SABIC T&I and Chairman of GPCA’s Research and Innovation Committee, will deliver the welcome address. Thorsten Loehl, Vice President for Science & Engineering at Borouge International, is scheduled to deliver a keynote focused on fostering innovation with purpose.

 

The programme will also feature a future walk-through by Mahdi Aladel, CEO of Aramco Ventures, titled “From Vision to Action: Powering the Innovation Playbook for the GCC’s Chemical Future.”

 

A strategic panel will examine the challenge of translating research into industrial impact, with participation from Afrah Aldawsari, General Manager of the Refining and Petrochemical Technologies Institute at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST); Abdulrahman Al-Farraj, General Manager of Corporate Technology at TASNEE; and Mohammad Essamuddin Ibrahim, General Manager of Research & Innovation at Sipchem.

 

The first day will conclude with a leadership dialogue on cross-sector collaboration involving Haleema Al-Amri, Senior Director of the Energy Innovation Observatory Department at the Ministry of Energy; Prof. Saad F. Alafnan, Chairman of the Department of Chemical Engineering at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM); and Mohammed Al-Hazmi, General Manager of Chemicals, Technology & Innovation at SABIC.

 

The second day will turn the focus to the technologies, strategies and intellectual capital expected to influence the future of chemical innovation.

 

Alexandra Zakharova, Partner and KSA Chemicals Leader at McKinsey & Company, will open the day with a keynote titled “Roadmap to the Future of Chemical Innovation: Lessons from Global Leaders.” A subsequent strategic panel will examine the growing role of advanced computing and artificial intelligence in scientific research.

 

GPCA Secretary General Mater Aldhafeeri said the conference would provide a platform for collaboration across the region’s innovation ecosystem.

 

“As the GCC’s chemical and petrochemical sector continues to evolve, world-class research, technology, academia, industry and talent will converge to accelerate the industry’s transformation. We are proud to announce the return of the GPCA Research and Innovation Conference to provide a valuable platform for dialogue, bringing together the region’s leading minds to share ideas, forge strategic partnerships, and shape the innovations that will define the industry’s future.”

 

The conference’s move to Saudi Arabia comes as the Kingdom continues to strengthen its role in technology, research and industrial development, providing a setting for discussions on how innovation can translate into commercial and industrial applications across the GCC’s chemical sector.