The Coral Research and Development Acceleration Platform at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has launched the Coral Protection Accelerator Program (CAP 2022), offering grants of up to $18 million to support innovative solutions that can help secure the future of coral reefs in the face of climate change. climate and other environmental stresses.
Through this program, the Coral Research and Development Acceleration Platform seeks to apply a unique multidisciplinary approach that accelerates research and development activities in relation to efforts to protect coral reefs around the world. Program applicants with institutions from low- or middle-income countries.
"There is no equivalence between our ambition to restore our oceans and the technologies we now have to do so," said David Mead, chair of the scientific advisory committee for the KAUST Coral Research and Development Accelerator Platform. We need next-generation solutions to achieve the level of environmental restoration required in the next decade and we expect that the projects funded by the program will lead to important discoveries, innovations and improvements in the protection and restoration of existing coral reefs.”
He explained that the Coral Protection Acceleration Program is based on three basic principles, including ensuring that the benefits of the proposed projects accrue to local communities, that the teams of applicants consist of international institutions from at least two countries, one of which is a low- or middle-income country, as is included in the list. OECD Solutions Open Source Intellectual property resulting from projects funded by the KAUST Coral Research and Development Accelerator Platform will be free under general license for all commercial and non-commercial reef conservation uses, and anyone will be allowed to access and build on the research and technology.
Professor Anastasia Banazak, Vice Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the KAUST platform to accelerate coral research and development, explained that most coral reefs are located in developing countries, but their citizens cannot participate in research due to weak capacities and lack of capabilities. This is the first research program that guarantees their participation, and we welcome all non-profit and for-profit institutions. From any country, as well as higher education institutions, research institutes, and government agencies. This opens up many opportunities because most other programs only fund researchers from the granting country.
Okaz (Jeddah) @okaz_online