Kuwait University, in cooperation with the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority, hosted a delegation from Google Cloud in the presence of the company’s CEO, Thomas Kurian, and the Acting President of Kuwait University, Prof. Meshari Lafi Al-Harbi. The visit by the delegation on Wednesday, November 15, in the Sabah Al-Salem University City in Al-Shadadiya comes as part of several meetings aimed at strengthening the strategic partnership.
Acting President of Kuwait University, Prof. Meshari Lafi Al-Harbi expressed his happiness at hosting Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian in Sabah Al-Salem University City, who shared with the audience the latest ideas and technologies that artificial intelligence has contributed to developing, which leads to the development of Kuwait University in terms of projects and research and aligns with its strategic plans.
Prof. Al-Harbi also mentioned some of the topics discussed with the CEO of Google Cloud, namely cybersecurity and the use of artificial intelligence in various fields. He stated that hosting the delegation is an opportunity for Kuwait University’s academic and administrative staff, as well as its students, to plan for hosting delegations in the future that will raise the name of the university and the State of Kuwait.
Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said, “It is a great honor to be in the State of Kuwait and to continue this journey that we began to establish another home for Google Cloud here in the State of Kuwait, as we are bringing not just our technology to the data centers here, but also to people so they can build skills”.
Kurian expressed his pride in the work and cooperation carried out by Google Cloud with educational institutions, where promising youth represent the future. He stressed the importance of enabling young people to keep pace with technological advancement and incorporating it in their work is always the first step in improving their career opportunities in the future. He offered his thanks to Kuwait University for hosting the delegation at Sabah Al-Salem University City, which he considered “a very distinguished educational institution.”
At the end of his speech, Kurian stressed that technology has now become available to everyone, so emerging youth must raise their ambitions to the highest possible level, which will contribute to the excellence of startup companies that can be established in any country. Those startups can be built on the same technology platform used by Google engineers, “We are doing that because we want young people to have big dreams and ambitions and we want them to build great companies here in the State of Kuwait,” noting that there is currently nothing preventing young people from going global, as technology platforms operate in many countries. He remarked that Kuwait University is a great educational institution, “Kuwait is a country with amazing resources, and having many young allows for great new ideas because they don't think about the complexities the way someone of my generation does, so we want to give them access to this technology so they can build the companies of the future”.
For her part, Shaymaa Al-Terkait, Kuwait Country Manager for Google Cloud welcomed all the students, entrepreneurs, and faculty members, stressing that they were exclusively selected to attend based on their accomplishments, whether in their own business or their outstanding performance at Kuwait University, offering her thanks to everyone attending the meeting with Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.
The meeting included visual presentations to explain the new technologies used in artificial intelligence through the Google Cloud program, and how they contribute to the efficiency of scientific and practical performance.