Eng. Omar Al Ansari, Secretary General of the QRDI Council.
Doha, Qatar: Increasing number of Research and Development (R&D) projects will continue to boost the country’s economy and create a positive impact in the industry, said an official.
In an interview with The Peninsula, Qatar Research, Development and Innovation (QRDI) Council Secretary General Eng. Omar Al Ansari said that the strategic partnerships between Qatari and international firms will eventuate a constructive outcome.
“When we build R&D and innovation capabilities in private sectors and companies, there will be a huge value created for our economy because innovative businesses are huge value creators and also huge creators of job opportunities for our graduates, Eng. Al Ansari said. He highlighted that this process of carrying out more innovative products and opening more high-skill jobs is important to bolster the economy.
Recently, QRDI Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) to promote innovative ecosystems in Qatar and Singapore. He noted that such deals are essential in order
to encounter common challenges.
He said: “Between us and Singapore, in areas such as sustainability, AgriTech, and MetTech among others, these challenges become opportunities when we expose them as opportunities to the private sector to solve and then these opportunities mean that startups and companies will work in Qatar to develop products and solutions for these challenges. These then represent job opportunities because our graduates and differently talented students will be able to work in R&D activities in the private sector.”
Aiming towards diversified scientific research and a knowledge-based economy, QRDI Council plays a pivotal role as a worldwide leader in enhancing education systems and research innovation. The partnership with international organisations like EnterpriseSG will generate new talents in the respective countries, said Eng, Al Ansari.
The official said that QRDI Council will be joining its open innovation platform with EnterpriseSG’s open innovation platform and vice versa. He said that “This is a great opportunity for Qatari companies and Singaporean companies to collaborate and do R&D in Qatar and Singapore.
“What this encourages is that there will be more talents including Singaporean companies and other foreign nationalities that will come to Qatar and choose this country to be a place to test and pilot technologies in all of our facilities,” Eng. Al Ansari added.
