Steer Studios, the global games studio arm of Savvy Games Group, held a company day at KAUST to recruit talent. Savvy Games Group aims to invest SAR 142 billion to establish 250 game companies in Saudi Arabia and create 39,000 jobs. Steer Studios representatives interviewed and networked with KAUST students, seeking skills in marketing, computer engineering, 3D art, animation, and game design. Why it matters: This event highlights Saudi Arabia's commitment to developing its gaming and esports sector, aligning with Vision 2030 and creating opportunities for local talent in a rapidly growing industry.
VentureOne, the commercialization arm of Abu Dhabi's Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), has launched SteerAI, an AI-powered autonomous mobility system that can be integrated into existing industrial vehicles. Developed by experts at the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), SteerAI uses a hardware kit, software stack, and fleet management system. The system targets the logistics and defense sectors, enabling autonomous ground vehicles to perform complex missions with precision and efficiency. Why it matters: This launch underscores the UAE's ambition to become a leader in autonomous vehicle technology, transforming industries and enhancing operational capabilities in critical sectors.
KAUST highlights postdoctoral fellows Yi Jin Liew, Isabelle Schulz, Maren Ziegler and Neus Garcias Bonet outside the University Library. The article mentions King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1924 – 2015). It encourages applications to KAUST's Discovery Postdoctoral program. Why it matters: This brief announcement signals KAUST's ongoing investment in attracting international research talent to Saudi Arabia.
Entrepreneur Alexandru Ionut Budisteanu spoke at KAUST's 2018 Winter Enrichment Program (WEP) about pursuing one's passion to achieve their dreams. Budisteanu shared his journey of creating video games and building an autonomous self-driving car prototype. He emphasized the importance of finding a job or activity that one loves and working with passion. Why it matters: Showcases KAUST's efforts to host inspiring speakers and promote entrepreneurship among students.
Ceer and KAUST are partnering to research and develop innovations in smart mobility, including connectivity and autonomous driving technologies. The collaboration aims to transform research into economically productive innovations, supporting Saudi-based SMEs and the automotive manufacturing industry. Ceer and KAUST will share facilities and conduct collaborative activities to foster knowledge exchange and create jobs. Why it matters: This partnership signifies a crucial step towards diversifying Saudi Arabia's economy and advancing technological capabilities in the electric vehicle sector within the Kingdom.
The paper introduces Yet another Policy Optimization (YaPO), a reference-free method for learning sparse steering vectors in the latent space of a Sparse Autoencoder (SAE) to steer LLMs. By optimizing sparse codes, YaPO produces disentangled, interpretable, and efficient steering directions. Experiments show YaPO converges faster, achieves stronger performance, exhibits improved training stability and preserves general knowledge compared to dense steering baselines.
Dominique Sciamma, Managing Director at Strate School of Design in France, gave a presentation at KAUST during Enrichment in the Fall of 2017. The title of the presentation was "From Descartes to Morin." The event was held at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Why it matters: While the event is dated, KAUST's ongoing enrichment programs contribute to fostering a culture of innovation and knowledge exchange in Saudi Arabia.