Sami Sarhan

Sami Sarhan started his career with Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, back in 1994. In 2008 joined Microsoft, Reading office in the UK as a technology specialist to develop Oil and Gas middleware systems. In 2009 joined AbdulKarem Holding as General Manager, Khobar City. In July 2010, he accepted an offer with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal. Since then, Sami has taken multiple positions in KAUST, starting with Capital Program Coordinator that supports KAUST with its capital financial strategies for capital projects, later promoted to be Engineering and Project Control Manager. Lately, in 2019, Sami Joined the Innovation Department as Head of the SME Innovation Services, and currently, Sami is the Head of the Industry Engagement at KAUST Innovation Department to help expose KAUST resources and capabilities to SME in specif and Industry in general. As far as education, in 1997 Sami graduated from New Mexico State University, NM, USA, with B.S. in Computer and Electric Engineering. In 2003 Sami received his Master's degree in Computer Science from Florida State University, FL, USA and in 2019 Sami completed his MBA with Imperial College, London, UK. Lately, Sami has completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Innovation and Design Thinking from a consortium of three universities: MIT Management Executive Education, Colombia Business School, and Tuck Executive Education. Lately, Sami has worked on a study related to SME readiness for R&D and Innovation. This unique study was one of its kind on the Kingdom's level. It highlighted the gaps in the SME ecosystems related to R&D, innovation, and technology adaption. Sami published two papers related to Data Quality at Saudi Electric TQM conferences in 2006 and 2009 and a paper related to XML-OPC Technologies for Process Automation, presented at the Process Engineering & Automation Technical Exchange conference organized by Saudi Aramco. From an IP perspective, Sami registered his first patent at the US Patent Office in 2018, related to preventing vehicles from being submerged in water/flood. Lately, Sami submitted his second patented at the UK IPO Office related to Drone systems Sami is a serial entrepreneur who started his first e-commerce website Oqaz Mall back in 2002, then established Carts-n-Wheels, trading business in self-balancing vehicles. And now, Sami is cofounder of YAMAMA Wing Logistics Services “YAW” to use drones for delivery purposes and in the process of developing his own company related to drone technologies, DroneTek. Lately, Sami developed his UAV pilot skills and became a certified commercial UAV pilot. Sami holds three commercial UAV pilot licenses:FAA USA, GACA KSA, and CAA UK.