SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 9

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Ahlia University Institutional Report

Verified institutional evidence | Education • Research • Operations • Community engagement

Institutional commitment

Ahlia University advances SDG 9 through dedicated invention and entrepreneurship centres, technology and engineering education, applied research, industry collaboration, hackathons and international conferences that accelerate innovation and knowledge exchange.

Evidence basis: verified public institutional sources and dated activities within 2021–2025. Ongoing policies and services are identified separately from dated initiatives; no single year is treated as the core year.

How Ahlia University applies SDG 9

• Innovation infrastructure: The Ahlia Invention Centre is open to University members and innovators across Bahrain. It provides educational, networking, teaching and research activity, connects inventors with experts and industry partners, and supports new-venture opportunities and original intellectual property.

• Applied innovation and entrepreneurship: The Ahlia Centre for Entrepreneurship offers workshops, challenges, competitions and mentoring. Together, the two centres provide routes from idea generation to skills development, external advice and venture creation.

• Technology-focused education: Engineering, information technology, multimedia and management-information programmes are mapped to SDG 9. Students develop technical, analytical, design and project capabilities applicable to digital infrastructure and industrial innovation.

• Global research exchange: CBF’2022, ICGER 2024 and ITIKD 2025 connected academics, industry and policymakers around business technology, AI, cybersecurity, smart healthcare, digital infrastructure and the social impact of technology.

Institutional integration

The University’s contribution is reinforced through four connected functions: academic provision develops knowledge and professional capability; research generates and exchanges evidence; operations apply the goal within institutional practice; and community engagement transfers knowledge and benefit beyond campus. This structure enables the SDG to be addressed as an institutional responsibility rather than as a stand-alone event.

Five-year evidence record: 2021–2025

The following record presents selected verified evidence across the full reporting period. Each entry identifies the activity or framework and the contribution it makes to the goal.

How the contribution is strengthened

• Education: Engineering, IT and business programmes build technical and managerial innovation capability.

• Research: Applied and internationally networked research addresses digital, industrial and societal challenges.

• Operations: Innovation centres provide space, expertise, mentoring and external connections for ideas and prototypes.

• Community: Hackathons and open-centre participation bring Bahrain’s innovators, students, faculty and industry together.

Institutional outcome

Across 2021–2025, Ahlia University applied SDG 9 through innovation infrastructure, practice-based education, research and strong industry and international connections. The University supports the complete innovation pathway—from skills and ideas to prototyping, knowledge exchange and enterprise development.

Source register

Original Ahlia University institutional pages and event records used for this report. All links are clickable.

1. Ahlia University — Ahlia Invention Centre

2. Ahlia University — Ahlia Centre for Entrepreneurship

3. Ahlia University — We Invent Hackathon (15–17 March 2022)

4. Ahlia University — Sustainable Courses

5. Ahlia University — Research at Ahlia

6. Ahlia University — CBF International Conference on Business and Technology (23–24 March 2022)

7. Ahlia University — ICGER 2024: AI, Innovation and Economic Diversification

8. Ahlia University — ITIKD 2025 with Researchers from 50 Countries

Evidence period: 1 January 2021–31 December 2025.