Kuwait University and imec to collaborate on advanced silicon solar cell technology

BELGIUM & KUWAIT: World-leading nanotechnology research centre imec (Belgium) and Kuwait University signed a long-term collaboration agreement for research and development on innovative silicon solar cell technologies.

The agreement has been signed on Wednesday December 19, 2012, in Kuwait City during a ceremony in the presence of the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Deputy-Prime Minister, Didier Reynders, and Kuwait University President, Prof. Abdullatif Al-Bader, and Director General of Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Sciences, Dr. Adnan Shihab-Eldin.

The basis of the collaboration between imec and Kuwait University is imec’s wafer-based silicon solar cell industrial affiliation program. By joining this program Kuwait University will acquire and further build up knowledge and expertise in advanced silicon solar cell processing technology.

Resident researchers from Kuwait University will collaborate closely with imec researchers at imec’s facilities in Leuven, Belgium, and in Kuwait, and they will contribute to the research program with their excellent technology-modeling and simulation expertise. In this way Kuwait University will provide in-depth scientific understanding in exploring and validating directions for further solar cell innovation toward higher efficiencies and lower cost.

Additionally, imec scientists will organize training sessions and scientific seminars in Kuwait for students and researchers of Kuwait University, to stimulate growth in expertise and human capital in field of solar cells and renewable energy in Kuwait.

“The need and importance of renewable energy is dominantly present in the Middle East region. With this collaboration we feel that Kuwait is taking a new and strategic step in establishing a key position in the field of silicon solar cell technology in the region,” says Ludo Deferm, executive VP, Business Development at imec.

“We are very pleased to welcome Kuwait University as one of our research partners. It is a confirmation of imec’s high level of expertise and leading position in advance solar technologies and it is nice example of the important value that imec can bring to the Middle-East region.”

Elaborating on the KU-imec collaboration in the sphere of solar cell technology, Prof. Hasan Al-Sanad, VP for Research, said: “Kuwait University is driven toward creating an enabling environment that could spur scientific research in the field of silicon solar cells in Kuwait, enhancing institutional capabilities and competence in this field. The intent is to open the door for scientific exchange, knowledge-sharing and skills acquisition through training and practical exposure that could benefit our faculty and scholars, to innovate, and gather in-depth knowledge and capability in the field."

The collaboration with imec is, therefore, “a defining step in this direction, an agreement opening the door for advanced research in the critical area of solar cell technology, with its long-term implications for the state, society and the region". Dr. Hasan added: “The joint agreement marked the beginning of a journey, a valued partnership for advancing institutional R&D capabilities, and bolstering KU’s scientific standing in the field.”