Date: 14 – 16 September 2026
Venue: Olyan Building, KAUST, Saudi Arabia
The Moment Demands Action
Saudi Arabia’s cement sector is operating at a critical junction. With installed capacity utilization at approximately 60%, emissions reaching 37 Mt CO2 in 2025, and demand projected to surge to 73 Mt by 2030 driven by giga projects infrastructure, the pressure to produce more with less emissions has never been more acute.
The decisions made in Saudi cement plants today will define the carbon footprint of the Kingdom’s built environment for the next fifty years. Artificial intelligence and digitalization are no longer emerging concepts to be evaluated. They are operational imperatives to be deployed, scaled, and mastered.
This is precisely why FCI is convening its 2nd Annual Conference.
About FCI
The Future Cement Initiative (FCI) is Saudi Arabia’s dedicated platform for accelerating the transformation of the cement sector toward low-carbon, high-performance, and digitally intelligent operations. FCI works directly with Saudi cement producers, technology partners, regulators, and global experts to bridge the gap between cutting-edge innovation and real-world industrial deployment.
FCI operates as an independent, industry-aligned initiative with a singular focus: making Saudi Arabia’s cement sector a regional and global benchmark for sustainable and intelligent manufacturing.
About the Conference
The FCI 2nd Annual Conference will bring together Saudi Arabia’s cement industry leadership, technology innovators, researchers, policymakers, and solution providers for three days of focused capability building, applied knowledge exchange, and strategic dialogue.
The conference is designed around one objective: equipping Saudi cement plants with the tools, knowledge, and connections needed to deploy AI and digital technologies at scale, and to make those deployments count toward measurable decarbonization and operational excellence.
The primary audience is the people who run Saudi cement plants: plant managers, department heads, process engineers, maintenance engineers, quality managers, and the operational leaders responsible for delivering performance on the ground.
Conference Structure
The three-day program is purposefully sequenced. Each day builds on the last, moving from foundational knowledge to applied solutions to strategic commitment.
Day 1:
Capability Building AI, Statistics, and Machine Learning Masterclass
The first day is dedicated entirely to building practical, applied capability among cement plant practitioners. Structured training sessions will cover the core principles of artificial intelligence, statistical analysis, and machine learning as they apply directly to cement manufacturing processes. This is not a theoretical introduction. Sessions will be grounded in industrial data, real plant scenarios, and the specific challenges that Saudi cement engineers encounter daily.
Trainers will be drawn from leading academic institutions and experienced industrial practitioners with hands-on cement sector deployment experience. Participants will leave Day 1 with a clear, working understanding of how AI tools function, what they can and cannot do, and how to evaluate them critically when presented by vendors and solution providers.
This day is designed for engineers and technical managers who need to move confidently from awareness to informed engagement.
Day 2:
International use cases Presentations, Applied AI and digital Solutions Across the Cement Value Chain
Day 2 opens the floor to the global and regional cement ecosystem. Selected speakers, including technology suppliers, equipment providers, service companies, academics, and plant operators, will deliver focused presentations on real implementations, documented outcomes, and emerging solutions.
Presentations will be organized into seven thematic sessions, providing a structured and coherent narrative that spans the full operational spectrum of a cement plant from quarry to dispatch. Every presentation will be evaluated by the FCI program committee against a single criterion: does this deliver actionable insight for a Saudi cement plant practitioner?
Day 3:
Strategic Dialogue, cement plants CEOs and Policy makers Roundtables
Day 3 elevates the conversation to the level where industry transformation is actually decided. Senior executives from Saudi cement companies, representatives from the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, and key national policymakers will convene for facilitated, high-level panel discussions.
Topics of Interest
The FCI program committee welcomes submissions organized across seven thematic clusters. Submissions relevant to, but not limited to, the topics listed below are encouraged.
Cluster 1: Foundations and Strategy
This cluster addresses the preconditions for successful AI deployment at scale. We welcome submissions covering data infrastructure and standardization as the foundation for AI-ready cement plants, AI maturity assessment frameworks and where Saudi cement plants stand today, building the business case for digital investment including ROI frameworks and KPI benchmarking, change management and workforce readiness for digital transformation, cybersecurity and data governance in industrial AI environments, and the critical challenge of knowledge capture: encoding expert operator intelligence into AI systems before it retires with the people who carry it.
Cluster 2: Process Optimization and Control
This cluster covers the operational core of AI in cement manufacturing. Relevant topics include AI-driven kiln control and pyroprocess optimization, real-time clinker quality prediction and free lime estimation, raw mill and finish mill optimization using machine learning, advanced process control (APC) integration with AI layers, homogenization, blending, and raw material consistency management, alternative fuel calorific value estimation and optimization, cooler efficiency optimization and heat recovery intelligence, and quarry planning, grade control, and autonomous extraction optimization.
Cluster 3: Predictive Intelligence and Asset Management
This cluster focuses on keeping plants running longer and smarter. Topics include predictive and preventive maintenance using IoT sensor networks, vibration, acoustic, and thermal analytics for rotating equipment, digital twin applications for asset lifecycle management and capital planning, refractory condition monitoring and life extension through AI, root-cause analysis and failure pattern recognition, and AI-driven spare parts inventory optimization.
Cluster 4: Quality, Laboratory, and Product Performance
This cluster addresses the shift from reactive testing to predictive quality assurance. Relevant submissions may cover AI-powered cement performance prediction and strength modeling, real-time quality control in grinding and packing circuits, laboratory automation and intelligent QC workflow management, digital product passports and cement quality traceability, machine learning for clinker phase analysis and microstructural characterization, and AI-assisted mix design for low-carbon and blended cements.
Cluster 5: Decarbonization and Environmental Intelligence
This cluster is where AI directly enables the green transition. Topics include continuous emissions monitoring and AI-driven regulatory compliance, AI for NOx, SOx, and particulate control optimization, specific heat consumption reduction through intelligent combustion management, carbon accounting, reporting automation, and scope 1/2/3 tracking, AI-enabled alternative fuel substitution rate maximization, and digital tools for clinker factor reduction and supplementary cementitious material (SCM) optimization.
Cluster 6: Commercial, Logistics, and Customer Intelligence
This cluster extends AI beyond the plant gate into the commercial and supply chain domain. Topics include AI-driven demand forecasting and production planning, smart logistics, dispatch optimization, and fleet management, autonomous vehicle applications in cement plant and quarry operations, customer service automation and AI-powered ordering systems, automated reporting, pricing intelligence, and commercial analytics, silo inventory management and real-time supply chain visibility, and commerce and finance digitalization from order-to-cash to AI-assisted procurement.
Cluster 7: Safety, People, and the Future of Work
This cluster addresses the human dimension of intelligent operations. Topics include computer vision and AI for real-time safety monitoring and PPE compliance, AI decision support systems for plant operators and shift managers, HR analytics, workforce planning, and competency management in the digital plant, generative AI and large language models as industrial knowledge assistants, and building internal AI capability through training, upskilling, and talent retention in Saudi cement.
Who Should Submit
FCI is actively seeking expressions of interest from across the full cement value chain ecosystem:
- Technology and Equipment Suppliers with deployed AI or digital solutions in the cement or heavy industry sector, particularly those with documented results from operational deployments
- Academics and Researchers with applied findings directly relevant to cement manufacturing, industrial AI, or decarbonization, with preference given to work with clear industry applicability
- Plant Operators and Engineers from Saudi or regional cement operations with first-hand case studies and lessons learned from digital implementation
- Training Specialists in AI, machine learning, statistics, or industrial data science with direct experience in cement or process industry applications (for Day 1 consideration)
- Service Providers in data analytics, automation, digital infrastructure, and industrial IoT operating in or targeting the cement sector
- Industry Consultants and Strategists working at the intersection of decarbonization, policy, and cement sector transformation
What to Submit
To express your interest in participating as a speaker, trainer, or presenter, please provide the following:
- Full name and professional title
- Organization name and country
- Proposed presentation or session title
- Short abstract (maximum 300 words) describing the content, key findings or demonstrations, and relevance to the Saudi cement sector
- Brief professional biography (maximum 150 words)
- Preferred participation format: Training session (Day 1), Technical presentation (Day 2), or Panel discussion (Day 3)
- Relevant supporting materials (optional): published papers, case study summaries, or product documentation
All submissions will be reviewed by the FCI program committee. Decisions will be communicated within three weeks of receipt. The committee reserves the right to suggest an alternative session format or topic angle to better fit the program architecture.
Submission Deadline
30 June 2026
Early submissions are strongly encouraged. The program committee reviews submissions on a rolling basis, and early submitters benefit from earlier confirmation and greater flexibility in session scheduling.
How to Submit
Email: mohamed.zayed@kaust.edu.sa
Subject Line: FCI 2026 Conference | Expression of Interest | [Your Name] | [Organization]
Why This Conference Matters
The FCI Annual Conference is the only platform in Saudi Arabia that can translate from global best practice to Saudi plant reality. Participants gain direct access to decision-makers across the Saudi cement industry, leading researchers, and the policymakers shaping the Kingdom’s industrial transformation.
This is not a showcase. It is a working conference. And the work starts here.