Sara bint Mashhour Launches New Science and Technology Initiative 'ilmi' in Riyadh

Sara bint Mashhour Launches New Science and Technology Initiative 'ilmi' in Riyadh
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Sara bint Mashhour Launches New Science and Technology Initiative 'ilmi' in Riyadh

Sara bint Mashhour Launches New Science and Technology Initiative 'ilmi' in Riyadh

Saudi Arabia has announced the launching of ilmi, a new Center for Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STREAM) learning, created by Princess Sara bint Mashhour bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, wife of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

ilmi (“my knowledge” in Arabic) will be a fully accessible Science Discovery and Innovation Center that inspires and empowers young people across Saudi Arabia to explore and create, as well as to tackle challenges hands-on, the Saudi Press Agency reported Saturday.

A philanthropic, non-government initiative incubated and supported by the Mohammed bin Salman Foundation Misk as one of its subsidiaries, ilmi will operate in partnership with Mohammed bin Salman Nonprofit City, it said.

Princess Sara bint Mashhour bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said: “ilmi will be a beacon of creativity, learning and accessibility. It will offer all Saudi Arabia’s young and lifelong learners the ability to realize their potential, further drive advances in the Kingdom, and help shape the future. Together, I hope that we will all create ilmi, and inspire and support our next generation.”

At ilmi’s core is a unique approach that seeks to project a detailed, qualitative picture of how young people across Saudi Arabia best connect with STREAM subjects. Using this information, together with its young audience and alongside parents, teachers, learning experts, employers, scientists, creative individuals, and entrepreneurs, ilmi will co-create a regularly refreshed program of STREAM content, ensuring that its offering remains relevant to young people as their needs evolve.

Located in Mohammed bin Salman Nonprofit City in Riyadh and opening in 2025, the ilmi center spans 27,000 square meters and reflects the city’s goals to embody creativity and sustainability through integration in its natural surroundings and extensive landscaping, and make use of natural light, SPA said.

Planned permanent exhibitions will be based around three core themes, Our World, Our Selves, and Our Inventions, and will focus on issues including space, ecosystems and AI. The center will also host a variety of installations, events, talks, performances and learning partner programs designed to build a new STREAM community in Saudi Arabia.

ilmi will offer an integrated digital platform combined with a series of pop-up learning experiences across Saudi Arabia. These will start to go live this summer and aim to get young people, parents, families and friends of all ages and abilities excited and engaged in STREAM before ilmi’s physical home opens.

Launching soon, ilmi’s online offering will feature a series of exciting, gamified design challenges that explore key STREAM concepts, connect them to real life, and invite participants to come up with creative responses as part of a competition. To support this initiative, ilmi will also hold a series of live activations that will explore the STREAM content behind each digital challenge and encourage families and friends to work together to create and build solutions live.



Concern as Orangutan Seen Roaming Indonesia Coal Site

This screen grab taken from video released by Ahmad Baihaqi shows a critically endangered orangutan walking in a coal mine in Borneo's East Kutai regency of East Kalimantan province on January 27, 2025. (Photo by Ahmad Baihaqi / AFP)
This screen grab taken from video released by Ahmad Baihaqi shows a critically endangered orangutan walking in a coal mine in Borneo's East Kutai regency of East Kalimantan province on January 27, 2025. (Photo by Ahmad Baihaqi / AFP)
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Concern as Orangutan Seen Roaming Indonesia Coal Site

This screen grab taken from video released by Ahmad Baihaqi shows a critically endangered orangutan walking in a coal mine in Borneo's East Kutai regency of East Kalimantan province on January 27, 2025. (Photo by Ahmad Baihaqi / AFP)
This screen grab taken from video released by Ahmad Baihaqi shows a critically endangered orangutan walking in a coal mine in Borneo's East Kutai regency of East Kalimantan province on January 27, 2025. (Photo by Ahmad Baihaqi / AFP)

Footage of a seemingly confused orangutan roaming the desolate site of an Indonesian coal mine, meters from excavators, has sparked renewed concern about the future of the critically endangered species.

The images, taken last month by a local resident and verified by AFP, are from the same province on Borneo island where Indonesia is building its new capital, a project environmentalists fear will endanger animal habitats in Asia's last great rainforest.

Indonesia has one of the world's highest deforestation rates, with commodities mining a key driver, but it is also one of only two places in the world where orangutans are still found, along with Malaysia.

The footage, which went viral on Indonesian social media, shows the male orangutan roaming across a chasm of sand streaked with white and black rocks, dug into land still surrounded by vegetation.

"Humans are sometimes too greedy. I hope God won't punish us," read one comment on the video, which racked up tens of thousands of views across YouTube and TikTok.

Locals standing on a bluff overlooking the site filmed the creature as it meandered metres from a digger that was seemingly oblivious to its presence.

Ahmad Baihaqi, who filmed the images, said a group of locals had been watching activity at the mine site when they spotted the primate.

"I felt bad because he looked so confused," the 22-year-old driver told AFP.

"He was alone and looked lost, he didn't know where to go because the forest was disappearing."

The sighting took place in East Kalimantan, where Indonesia is building its multi-billion-dollar capital city Nusantara at breakneck speed.

- Habitat disturbed -

Although the coal mine is a nine-hour drive from the construction site, the images renewed doubts about government claims that economic activity in the province is not affecting endangered animals.

Local environmentalist Mappaselle of the Balikpapan Coastal Working Group, who like many Indonesians uses one name, said the footage was clear evidence of that impact.

The orangutan sighting "was definitely because their habitat has been disturbed and is getting smaller," he said.

"Our endangered wildlife could go extinct," he warned.

"It's a natural wealth from God to us on Earth. If wildlife goes extinct, humans have failed in our job to protect nature."

All three species of orangutan are considered critically endangered, though estimates of the number left in the wild vary considerably.

Ari Wibawanto, head of the local conservation agency which sits under Indonesia's environment ministry, told AFP its officials had located the 15-year-old wild orangutan and moved it to a protected forest area after the footage surfaced.

But he argued that it was natural for male orangutans to roam around.