The SFDA hosted Dr. Osama Fayyad, the Executive Vice President of Research and Strategic Data Solutions of Yahoo company, which has the well known search engine Yahoo! on Monday, in order to discuss cooperation means between the two parts in fields of developing information intranet portals and electronic publishing. Dr. Fayyad also delivered a lecture entitled "Researching and Electronic Publishing Techniques and New Sciences of the Internet" in the SFDA headquarter attended by a large number of concerning people, specialists and leaders work in relative companies.
At the beginning of the lecture, Dr. Mohammed bin Ahmed Alkanhal, the executive vice president of the SFDA, addressed a welcoming speech in which he welcomed Dr. Osama Fayyad and the attendants. After that, Dr. Fayyad started his lecture by shedding light upon the development of research engines as they have never been just as information research means but they become a fundamental part in the procedures of publishing and on-line marketing. He also highlighted the role of other majors in this revolution and challenges that face them. He explained the viewpoint of yahoo about research services as well as its vision towards publishing and on-line marketing. Dr. Fayyad ended the lecture by having a glance at new sciences of the internet, then discussion and questions were opened.
After that, Dr. Fayyad visited the Department of Information Technology and received a memorial from the SFDA Vice President.
Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Aluqaily, the General Manager of Information Technology Department, stated that the SFDA (as it hosts Dr. Fayyad), seeks to depend on communication technology and achieve specific distinction of information technology services since its intranet portal (), has gained the first position in Raqmi's Prize – the branch of electronic health for year 2007, which is an outcome of hard work and continuous effort toward achieving best quality levels in applying and functioning electronic services. This invitation also reflects the SFDA tendency toward making use of universal experience in this field, as several authorities will be visited by Dr. Fayyad as King Abdul-Aziz City for Information and Technology, King Saud University, King Abdul-Aziz and his Companion Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity, the Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority and several private sectors authorities.
Dr. Fayyad is a pioneer in fields of data mining and exploration, as he held a leadership role at NASA that garnered him the top research excellence award that Caltech awards to JPL scientists. He also co-founded and led the DMX group, a data mining and data strategy consulting company and he is a fellow of the American Association of Artificial Intelligence.