The Center of Research Excellence in Date Palm is one of the scientific and research centers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia affiliated with King Faisal University in al-Ahsa Governorate, specializing in date palm and dates research.
The center was established based on the main recommendation of the First International Palm Symposium held at King Faisal University in 1983. The center was established in the same year.
As the center's performance evolved, the Ministry of Higher Education (currently the Ministry of Education) approved, in 2007, the center's designation as the Center of Research Excellence in Date Palm at King Faisal University and provided financial support.
The center aims to provide an encouraging and effective scientific environment for achieving innovations and conducting scientific research that promotes research excellence, and regional and global partnerships in the field of palm and date sciences.
Objectives
The center works towards achieving several objectives, including developing new methods and techniques for value-added date products. This includes:
- Encouraging, stimulating, and supporting scientific research innovations in palm and date sciences.
- Building a distinguished scientific foundation, providing an encouraging environment for conducting research, and training researchers in the field of palm and date sciences to meet the university's mission of achieving food security and sustainable development locally, regionally, and internationally.
- Transferring technology and preparing a new generation of distinguished researchers scientifically, and postgraduate students academically to carry out high-quality scientific research and development programs in the palm and date sector.
- Developing applied research outputs and innovations for investment and marketing, and increasing the number and diversity of patents.
- Building partnerships at the local, regional, and global levels in the palm and date sector.
Achievements
Throughout its journey, the center has garnered numerous prestigious scientific awards and certificates. In 2011, it received the First-Class Merit Certificate (Gold Degree) awarded by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology for outstanding scientific research. This recognition was for a research project focused on the economical separation of fructose from date molasses.
In 2017, the center achieved regional and international recognition by winning the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation in its ninth session. The award was in the second category (Pioneering Development and Productive Projects).
Patents
The center has been granted several patents. The US Patent Office granted it patents for the production of bread yeast from date molasses, biofortified yogurt with date molasses, a machine for sorting dates by size and converting palm waste into biofuel. The center has also been granted patents from the Patent Office of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. A patent was for a natural pesticide against the red palm weevil, and another for repellant materials for red palm weevil. Additionally, the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property granted the center patents for a locally manufactured palm pollination machine equipped with an ultrasonic humidification system, a device to study the behavior of palm and date insects in multi-use tunnels, and a non-destructive date quality measuring using electrical properties.
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