Over the past few years, there has been increasing interest in the technological functions of development banks. In addition to providing medium and long-term loans, a development bank can be a major player in a national science and technology system of a developing country, and can perform a very active technological role which may be at least as important as that of any specialised technological institution. The chief concern of this study has been whether the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF), as a development bank, does in fact function as expected in influencing and stimulating technological change in Saudi Arabia. The main research questions explored were: How effective has the SIDF been as an instrument of technological change? Has it really been an essential factor in the processes of industrial and technological change or has it been no more than a source of finance? It is evident that the ability of a development bank to promote and stimulate technological change, however, is influenced to a large extent by the country's national banking system and the position of the development bank in this system. Another important factor affecting a development banks general attitude towards its technological function is the economic and technological sophistication of the country in which that bank is operating. The analysis of the technological role played by the SIDF within this thesis has been based on an understanding of the above characteristics. The study began in Chapter Two, by providing a broad picture of relevant economic and associated socio-economic characteristics of the Saudi economy: this served as a background to the more detailed analysis in the subsequent chapters. Chapter Three then reviewed the historical background of the banking and financial sector in Saudi Arabia. The organisational structureof the financial sector, together with the respective financial conditions of the banking system, was examined in order to put in perspective the role and the place of the SIDF within the overall financial system of SA. Chapter Four was then dedicated to describing and analysing the main characteristics of the Saudi S&T policies and systems and special attention was given to certain technological institutions which have been established in order to promote and stimulate technological change activities in SA. Among these institutions, the role of the SIDF and how that institution fits into Saudi's S&T policies and systems was highlighted. Chapter Five surveyed the body of relevant literature on the ways development banks might contribute positively to industrial and technological change. Chapter Six looked at the organisational structure of the SIDF and tried to shed some light on the Fund's lending record. Throughout this thesis, it has been emphasised that any development bank has a multifaceted role in promoting and influencing technological change by means of many different channels of influence, and this is reflected in a wide variety of technological change indicators. For this reason we have utilised more than one method of data collection and investigation in order to test the hypotheses of this study. The empirical research of Chapters Seven, Eight, and Nine have all focused specifically on the examination of the technological role of the SIDF. Each chapter has employed one investigator or one method. These chapters explored some possible indicators of technological influence by the SIDF and revealed some interesting empirical findings. The overall analysis of this study revealed that the SIDF has vigorously participated financially in the development of the private industrial sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. this has been achieved by extending free-interest medium and long-term loans. Over the period since its inception up to the end of 1995. the Fund had been able to approve a total of 1745 loans for the erection of 1365 industrial projects located throughout the Kingdom. Commitments to these projects totalled SR. 25,842 million. of which SR. 17,491 million has been disbursed. In this study, however, we tried to focus more narrowly on the technological role of the SIDF and on the different ways in which the SIDF could contribute positively to technological change. Our investigation showed that the technological role as a strategic and operational target of the SIDF is very weak and has been largely ignored by the Saudi development planners as well as by the SIDF itself, despite the technological mission specified within the SIDF's Articles and the large volume of finance provided by the Fund.