KAUST's core campus, located on more than 36 million square meters on the Red Sea at Rabigh – approximately 80 kilometers north of Saudi Arabia's second largest city, Jiddah – is set to open in September 2009.

Because innovation and scientific discovery cannot be constrained within international boundaries, KAUST's work will also occur well beyond its physical campus. An integral part of KAUST's research strategy is to support scientists at first-rank institutions around the world. Indeed, the University will also establish formal collaborations with such institutions, as well as with the private sector, around research of mutual interest. That work is set to begin immediately.

Supported by a multi-billion dollar endowment and governed by a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees, KAUST will:

* Provide leading researchers – both faculty and students – with the resources they need to do their best work and pursue their professional goals: cutting-edge tools and an environment uniquely free of administrative barriers that can inhibit innovation and discovery.
* Convene the best minds – based strictly on merit – and create a collaborative community of passionate and talented researchers from around the world, who can transcend the boundaries of their fields to transform the lives of millions of others who will benefit from their work.
* Act as a catalyst for research that applies science and technology to problems of human need, social advancement, and economic development in Saudi Arabia, across the Middle East region and around the globe.
* Feature an academic structure that organizes interdisciplinary teams around problems of science and technology, a structure that most leaders in higher education around the world agree is well suited to meet the demands of 21st century research.
* Focus initially on four interdisciplinary research clusters: 1) resources, energy and the environment; 2) biosciences and engineering; 3) materials science and engineering; and 4) applied mathematics and computational science.
* Feature a campus that reflects KAUST's academic philosophy, which encourages collaboration and collegial relationships that can spawn innovation and invention. The campus will also be constructed for low environmental impact, with an emphasis on energy efficiency, sustainable development, and conservation of historical/cultural sites and sensitive ecosystems.

KAUST will lead the world toward a constructive, interdependent and hopeful future by encouraging critical collaborations between East and West and, at the same time, continue a tradition of scholarly inquiry dating back to ancient Islamic institutions of learning such as the House of Wisdom.