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Mohamed, Mamoun Sweden         In 1984: D. Sc., (Docent), Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden ,1975: Ph. D., Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden ,1967: B.Sc. Chemistry, Ain-Shams University, Cairo University, Egypt ,1965: B.Sc. Soil Sciences, Ain-Shams University, Cairo University, Egypt. His current appointments are: Chair Professor, Head of Materials Chemistry Division at Royal Institute of Technology.Director International Master’s Programme on Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, KTH. Chairman, International Committee on Nanostructured Materials. Chairman, Egyptian National Committee on Advanced and New Materials. Chairman of the steering Committee for Nordic Nanotechnology Programme, Nordic Industrial foundation. Coordinator, Arab Network on Nanotechnology. Director of the Graduate Studies, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KTH.Member of the Board, Dept of Materials Science and Engineering, KTH ,Dr. Muhammed has been a visiting professor in Spain, Italy, Korea, Albania, China, USA and Egypt, and he is active in several national and international organisations. Has been with the Royal Institute of Technology since 1969 at different positions, and has been serving on several committees (commissions of trust) at this university. Has been a member of several national and international committees for evaluation and accreditation of universities, expert panels for program evaluations, etc. His Entrepreneurial includes: Has more than 20 patents and patent applications; several of them have been filed at different European countries and USA.Has developed three processes which have been evaluated in a scaled up pilot testing.Established SME NanoChem Technologies, a co-founder of Nano Biomedical Technology AB, and European Chemical Nanotechnology AB, for the industrial exploitation of the research results on Nanomaterials in medical and other industrial applications. Has acted as a consultant for several European and USA companies. Abstract Concerted Efforts: The Establishment of Thematic Centers of Excellence It is now abundantly clear that sustainable economical development is dependant on knowledge based society. The past few decades have witnessed an unprecedented advancement of scientific research and technological development. There never have been so many researchers as now and there exists extremely sophisticated instrumentation and facilities needed for high end research and development. Costs for research have also increased dramatically. For the Arab countries, there is a need for developing national priorities to be integrated regionally. Building an infrastructure for research and technology development is not only very costly but also requires long term planning and good governance. For a long term strategy, elite educational institutions should be established for supplying future R&D scientists and engineers. Such institutions exist in developed countries, e.g., MIT, CATECH, etc, and have proven to be very important for developing economies, e.g. Indian Institutes of Sciences and Indian Institutes of Technologies. For shorter term strategy, world-class “specialized” Centers of Excellence should be established. These are research based institutions, can be established in two forms. “Centers without walls” can be formed through effective networking existing research centers or groups. The second type is physical Centers of Excellence where recourses and researchers would be located in the same facility. In both cases, clear mission statements, goals and roadmap should be established and implemented. A strong association with world-leading institutions working in the same areas should be secured.