Driving sustainable innovation through global partnerships

The dynamism of strategic partnerships in higher education is often discussed within the context of research, where collaboration serves as a catalyst for innovation. However, partnerships can offer a similarly powerful avenue for designing new teaching and learning experiences that help students develop the skills and knowledge they need to be competitive in the 21st-century workplace.

By improving the quality of education and presenting students with a global perspective on their studies, these partnerships can support a university’s strategic priorities while promoting sustainable growth. Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University’s (PSAU) summer training programme, hosted in partnership with Imperial College London, presents a fascinating case study on how this might look in practice.

PSAU has redesigned its curricula to orientate its teaching around sustainability. It uses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative to guide its academic strategy. As a world-renowned institution, Imperial is a model for excellence in teaching and research – particularly in STEM subjects. PSAU sees such collaborations as vital to enhancing its academic and research output.

Inaugurated in 2023 and expanded in 2024, the PSAU-Imperial summer training programme presented PSAU students with 10 weeks of intensive learning, six of which were undertaken at Imperial’s state-of-the-art London campus. An international cohort of students was grouped into interdisciplinary teams to tackle projects in AI and data science, engineering and prototyping, with a larger focus on deepening their understanding of the SDGs.

The programme’s goal is to drive innovation on campus and translate student-led innovations into practical applications in the world, creating a generation of graduates capable of tackling the biggest challenges facing our society.

Entrepreneurship and business modelling were key components of the programme. In London, students worked on real-world innovations, which they brought back to Saudi Arabia to present to their peers and management at PSAU. The final, post-training stage of the programme involved patent applications and the commercialisation of the students’ innovative solutions.

More than 300 students from different departments at PSAU applied to participate in the summer training programme. The selection was based on academic merit, particularly students’ knowledge of the SDGs. At least 10 per cent of the cohort had to be women. Shortlisted applicants were invited to interviews, and 31 were selected to travel to London.

“It has always been students from engineering, computer science and the physical and applied sciences,” says Abdullah M. Elias, director of PSAU’s Rankings, Strategy and Institutional Advancement Department. “In the 2025 cohort, we are expanding to have students from the College of Business and students from medicine, nursing and pharmacy.”

The first four weeks of the programme were undertaken in Saudi Arabia and delivered by faculty members from Imperial’s Data Science Institute. Students were given a comprehensive two-week introduction to Python, with lectures on how the programming language can be used in numerical processing, machine learning, natural language processing and model output interpretation. They were taught how to handle data for machine learning and use various sampling methodologies.

The students applied this knowledge in hands-on, project-based sessions. Recognising that intellectual curiosity can be a powerful driver of innovation, the programme supervisors encouraged students to explore their interests and suggest and evaluate potential projects.

Divided into groups, the students delivered a project by the end of the fourth week. An assessment commissioned by PSAU revealed that the four weeks were a success, with the final week providing “a valuable opportunity for students to enhance their understanding of programming and analytical concepts while collaborating on real-world applications. The hard work of all the groups was evident in their presentations”.

Introductory sessions at Imperial supported the SDG-based education PSAU’s students had received in Saudi Arabia, with lessons taught on the impact of climate change, renewable energy and the challenge of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Covering topics such as smart cities and clean energy, the syllabus was resolutely 21st-century, with a practical component to show students how these technologies could be applied in society and how they could use their creativity to find solutions.

Lectures on innovation presented students with a roadmap for applying creativity in their academic and professional careers. Imperial’s Centre for Academic English conducted sessions to develop students’ professional and academic English skills.

By the eighth week of the programme, students had learned about design engineering strategies, AI-assisted audio design, blockchain and how to present technologically advanced ideas to others. They had made use of Imperial’s world-class infrastructure, familiarising themselves with its Advanced Hackspace at the Imperial White City Campus, a prototyping hub that is designed to help innovators take their ideas from theory to application.

In their final two weeks in London, the students participated in sessions on business model analysis to learn about entrepreneurship at the Imperial Business School. “They were able to produce advanced solutions using facilities at Imperial College London,” says Elias. “They had one-on-one support of the faculty members and staff at Imperial. They were exposed to the best facilities that Imperial had to offer,” he adds.

“We have also added data science and AI as a key component of the 2024 programme,” Elias says. The final projects from the programme included solutions such as AI-assisted smart glasses to improve the quality of life for those with hearing loss, and EcoBin, a fully integrated smart bin that deploys machine learning, solar power and behavioural economics to improve waste management in Saudi Arabia, and an AI-embedded tile that harnesses kinetic energy from footsteps into electricity.

These practical innovations in sustainability demonstrate how outcomes from strategic partnerships can support universities’ broader ambitions to increase their social impact. The PSAU-Imperial summer training programme is an example of how academic partnerships can play a pivotal role in tackling important global issues, highlighting the potential for higher education to drive meaningful social impact and advance progress toward the SDGs.

Find out more about SDG education at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University.