Innovation X Ecosystems @Topian, the NEOM Food Company

TL;DR
I turn bold ideas into sustainable reality. I fuse technology, sustainability, and food systems to shape a resilient, future-ready world. With a PhD in Applied Mathematics and a track record spanning research, entrepreneurship, and global partnerships, I’m passionate about driving transformative projects that advance Vision 2030.

Speaker bio:
Dr. Andrew Yip is dedicated to curating sustainable innovations and strategic partnerships that will help the food sector reach its full potential. With his extensive experience in technology, innovation, and data governance, Dr. Yip is committed to driving positive change and creating innovative solutions for the industry, supporting Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, which aims to promote economic diversification, job creation, and social and cultural development.

Dr. Yip holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and has been a NEOM pioneer since 2019. When he's not working, he enjoys tabletop gaming with friends and strangers alike.

Andrew Yip, PhD

Our first Chinese New Year 🐎 and Ramadan 🌙 together with little Justin. Grateful for the blessings and may you all find JOY and peace in this auspicious season for you and your family. 🙏 🙏

Saudi Premium Resident | Turning bold ideas into sustainable reality | Tech × Sustainability × Future Food Systems

Behold, easily the most inspiring spot for scientists and nerds in the Kingdom: KAUST, perched on the Red Sea with labs, supercomputers, and a whole marine sanctuary built in.

Just finished a 2 am feed and wanted to mark the moment by sharing something I’ve quietly been building: my own baby activity tracker (Just do it).

Over the past weeks I’ve tried a bit of everything — apps, notes on my phone, even scribbles on the wall — but nothing really matched how my days with my son actually feel. So I started designing a simple tracker just for us, and it’s slowly becoming part of our nightly rhythm. The screenshots here are from this week, where I’ve been logging feeds and diapers and getting little reflections back on how the week went.

One funny (and honest) observation: I almost never manage to log sleep time. Somehow, by the time he finally dozes off, the last thing I want to do is tap another button. That gap made me notice how much I crave calm more than perfect data. Using this tool has helped me be more mindful of our routines without obsessing, and seeing the week summarized gives me a small sense of order in the blur of new parenthood.

I’m deeply grateful that my baby Justin  is the inspiration / pair-programming buddy / tester for this little project. The idea is that the tool will grow with him, and I’ll grow with it: what we track, how we reflect, and how we build tiny moments of awareness into everyday care. If it can help other new parents feel a bit more grounded and gentle with themselves, then it’s already a success.

Give it a try, or share it with a new parent friend. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it. 

Link in first comment.

After feeding baby Justin tonight, I suddenly got hit by a very specific craving: that steamy, savory bowl of halal Lanzhou noodles in China – the kind where the broth warms your soul and the hand-pulled noodles disappear way too fast.

So, while the little one was settling back to sleep, I opened up HalalYalla and did the next best thing to actually flying to China: I added a few halal Lanzhou noodle spots in Shenzhen to the app.

If you’re heading to Shenzhen (or already there!), you’ll soon see new listings for:
- Lanzhou / Chinese Muslim noodle places in key districts
- Clear halal tagging and addresses you can navigate to directly

This is just the start. I’ll keep expanding the China halal noodle map city by city – if you know any must‑visit spots, reply or DM so we can add them to HalalYalla and help more Muslims find that perfect bowl.

Link in first comment.

This is the Year of the Horse—a time for forward movement.

But moving forward as a parent means something different every day. Some days it's showing up. Some days it's admitting you were wrong. Some days it's just listening.

Two weeks ago, I began a year-long project with my newborn son, Justin Oliver: A Year with Confucius. One reflection for each of his first 366 days—drawing on ancient wisdom to become the parent he needs, inspired by the Daily Stoic and Daily Dad projects.

Not because Confucius had all the answers. But because he kept asking the right question: How do I become a better person?

And that, it turns out, is exactly what parenting asks of us.

Each day includes:
- An Analects quote in Chinese and English
- A reflection on parenting and becoming yourself
- Practices you can do alone and with your child
- A story about Little Jun (the Young Gentleman)
- A prayer—for Justin Oliver, and for your children too

Whether you're in the thick of it right now, or you care about a child's growth, this is a practice to return to. Daily.

🔗 Subscribe or bookmark in first comment. See you tomorrow.

Desert sea of thought—
Ibn al-Haytham’s light gleams still,
KAUST dawns anew.

Tea time, characters scroll—
Milk bottle by MacBook side,
Son's name gently brews.

Nations endure not just on vision or resources, but on trust: the quiet promises that bind us all.

Saudi Founding Day celebrates exactly that: leaders and people whose word built a lasting foundation, from Diriyah in 1727 to today. That's why I write about trust and foundation today.

Confucius says, "lacking trustworthiness, it's hard to know what can be made of them". In homes as in nations, kids learn trust not from words alone, but from whether "I'll be there" holds true.

In celebration of Foundation Day today, pick one recent promise to your child. Keep it by day's end, or sit down, explain honestly why not, and rebuild together. 

Small acts build strong foundations.

Happy Foundation Day!

自謂西川業漸成，
荊郊野夢尚纏情。
六年閒坐雲山外，
一劍未嘗試世塵。
水繞孤城春自碧，
心隨駿馬意難停。
他年若問興衰事，
但指江流笑未名。

新野覺前歌

KAUST Core Labs and Research Infrastructure

I got a promotion to Visualization Scientist at the KVL in the KAUST Core Labs. This position allows me to support all the ongoing research on machine learning and AI at the University.  For example, I will provide training to use the in-premise computational resources along with the help to facilitate the use of data science techniques. I want to help KAUST become a reference institution for ML and AI research.

Visualization Scientist

KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)

I got a promotion to Research Scientist in the extreme computing department. In this position, my focus will be to use machine learning and artificial intelligence to explore the design and interaction of proteins. With my experience in high-performance computing and machine learning, I'm leading projects that will take advantage of the facilities and talent pool of the university.

AI Research Scientist

Over the past years, I had the wonderful opportunity of becoming a postdoctoral fellow at KAUST in the KAUST Catalysis Center, as part of the team where I profit from my experience with high-performance computing, molecular modeling, machine learning, computational biology, data science and learning a lot about giving the most careful attention over details in the decision-making process, methodology implementation, and produce golden standard databases.
I started a project on machine learning applied to protein interaction.  The project first was awarded the equivalent to USD $26k for data generation and exploratory testing. Then, with an internal collaboration of the computer science department, I helped to secure USD 95K from the KAUST AI initiative using my original project as inspiration. As lead and developer, the project, I also mentored one master student, and we have already delivered the project on time, among our deliverables are the research project of the master student, as well as a new implementation of machine learning frameworks to improve classifiers.

Postdoctoral fellow

CINVESTAV

During my postdoc on CINVESTAV, I led the project that was a join adventure of the mathematics department and the computational department. I helped to develop a project using my high-performance computing skills and my domain knowledge. I mentored two bachelor students, I specially train them to use Linux, version control, and python programming for network analysis. I have to manage the project efficiently given the short duration of the grant. We produced several software and two academic papers from this project.

Barcelona Supercomputing Center

Ph.D. research student 

Some few things about me : 

• I love to learn and discuss machine learning and AI's impact on the world
• I have been part of the pioneers in the use of machine learning to evaluate the interactions of proteins.
• I contribute to my teams by improving the accuracy of the calculations and speeding up the algorithms using high-performance computing.

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The Battle

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Didier Barradas-Bautista, Ph.D

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