The equipment is so new that manufacturers' labels still hang from desk lamps, while in a laboratory a printer sits on the box from which it was unpacked.
For two years, builders and administrators have been working round the clock as Saudi Arabia strove to complete one of its most grandiose projects: a multi-billion-dollar graduate research institution that it hopes will compare with the best in the world. This week, the finishing touches were being put to the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust) as it prepares to be inaugurated today by King Abdullah, the Saudi ruler.
