H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, attended ‘Empowering Innovation’, an event organised yesterday to celebrate the QF’s commitment to nurturing innovation.
The two-day virtual event is organised by Industry Development and Knowledge Transfer (IDKT), a division of Qatar Foundation Research, Development and Innovation (QF RDI). It showcases QF’s excellence in RDI, achievements and future plans.
During the opening session of ‘Empowering Innovation’ H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser was joined by QF’s senior officials, representatives of research and academic institutions. Day one of the event featured an awards ceremony, unveiling of the ‘Wall of Innovation’ and a keynote speech.
“The Research, Development and Innovation landscape at Qatar Foundation encompasses infrastructure, talent, and policy with stakeholders spanning academia, technology, entrepreneurship, and healthcare,” said QF’ Vice-President of Research, Development and Innovation, Dr. Richard O’Kennedy.
“This structure enables the efficient exchange of knowledge, skills, and techniques, which foster the development of the scientific community and economic growth,” said Dr. O’Kennedy in his opening remarks.
Dr. O’Kennedy unveiled the ‘Digital Wall of Innovation’ a virtual showcase of close to 80 patents awarded to QF in recent years, and honoring the brilliant inventors behind them. He also announced that IDKT had developed a new searchable website and complementary tools in the form of guidebooks designed to assist Qatar’s community members in working with QF RDI’s researchers, inventors, technologists, and entrepreneurs.
An IP Policy and Innovation Infrastructure expert, Wesley Blakeslee, in his keynote speech said that QF is developing a robust innovation ecosystem. “In reality it’s just a beginning but a great start,” he said while presenting an overview of QF’s initiatives in policy development relating to intellectual property and entrepreneurship, and where those initiatives place QF progress in its innovation ecosystem.
First day of the event also included a recognition ceremony which acknowledged distinguished creator, inventor, and innovation of the year 2020. Distinguished Creator of the Year 2020 was awarded to Dr. Kareem Darwish of Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), part of QF’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Distinguished Inventor of the Year 2020 was awarded to Dr. Nimir El Bashir of QF partner university Texas A&M University at Qatar. Innovation of the Year 2020 was awarded to ‘Automatic Generation of Personas’, a tool for generating user personas from gathering social media data by QCRI.
Also key contributors for Commercial Licensing Activity, QF staff who have played vital roles in facilitating successful licensing of inventions or creative works for commercial purposes were recognized during the event.
‘Empowering Innovation’ is a celebration of QF’s dedication, of the past 25 years, of driving innovation, research and entrepreneurship, fostering social development and a culture of lifelong learning, and preparing bright minds to tackle the challenges of future. The day two of the event will feature a panel discussion on how to tackle the importance of focusing on ‘Technology Maturation and Commercialization’ activities in order to deliver more impactful results.
