Mark Crowell has been named the vice president of Innovation and Economic Development at KAUST, effective July 1, 2015. His responsibilities will include the development, management and commercialization of our intellectual property portfolio, the creation and support of new businesses, fostering joint ventures and collaborations with industry partners and enabling a strong culture of entrepreneurship at KAUST. In addition, he will oversee the development and management of KAUST’s Research and Technology Park and will help drive the strategic positioning and operation of pre-seed, seed and/or venture funding initiatives.

Crowell has over 25 years of experience as a leader in academic innovation and business development. Throughout his career, he has helped elevate and transform university-based innovation enterprises. The innovation programs he has led have helped to launch more than 135 startup companies and numerous products and services.

Between 2010 and 2014, Crowell was the founding Executive Director of UVa Innovation at the University of Virginia. He has consulted for organizations such as the World Bank, BIO, PhRMA, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Arkansas Research Alliance, Eva Klein & Associates, Wexford Science + Technology, the Research Triangle Institute and others. Crowell’s most recent international consulting work includes innovation capacity building initiatives in Eastern Europe on behalf of the World Bank, innovation policy and best practices advisory projects in South America on behalf of BIO and keynote addresses at international conferences and symposia in Singapore, China, Thailand, Japan and Brazil.

KAUST President Jean-Lou Chameau stated he is “confident that Mark will provide strong leadership and mentoring to our innovation and economic development team, as well as be an advocate for our faculty and researchers in their commercialization efforts.”

“I look forward to building upon the momentum created at KAUST and contributing to the university’s vision to be a catalyst for innovation and economic development in Saudi Arabia and the world,” Crowell said.