I am finishing my 6-month internship with KAUST Innovation & Economic Development and I can honestly say that it has been a great experience. The internship program was created by eBIG and provided me the opportunity to learn how the research discoveries from the labs are brought to society to improve our everyday life.

I have been lucky to work within the marketing and outreach team. They were very welcoming and made my integration to the team smooth. I am working with people from different backgrounds, having different perspective outside the research world. With them, I am learning how to convey and spread ideas or products through strategic passive and direct marketing tactics.  It was very interesting for me to learn how the new discoveries from the labs are explained in simple, non-scientific, terms for a non-specialist to understand.

One of my projects was to make a video promoting the eBig internship program. I was interviewing the interns and myself, then I put everything together. This was my first video ever, and the whole process of making it was really exciting! Check it out.

ABOUT KAUST’s Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation Group (eBIG)

eBIG is a student-run entrepreneurship business and innovation group which aims to provide a link between the student body and KAUST Innovation & Economic Development. The aims of the group are to engage students in entrepreneurial-spirited activities and competitions, encourage them to build new sets of soft skills and learn what it takes to get a research idea beyond the laboratory stage.

The group was established in 2015 by three students: Michael Margineanu, Nadia Kouraytem and Martin Ibarra. They were inspired to create the group after serving in the International Business Relations Committee of the Graduate Student Council when they realized that KAUST needs active student engagement outside-the-lab to help achieve one of its core goals, that of economic development. The founding group members  strongly believed that there are many ways in which both students and KAUST Innovation could benefit from having such a group on campus.

Any graduate student on campus can be a member of the group. As of December 2016, eBig has had over 80 KAUST students participating in activities over the last two years. Actively engaged students benefited from the networking as well as entrepreneurship and innovation educational opportunities.

Get Involved
If you would like to become an active member of the group, please email us at eBIG@kaust.edu.sa.