DOHA - Qatar can export gas as well as knowledge. A conference on Knowledge Parks that got off here yesterday, heard about the vision of the country which looks to transform its economy from one based on energy to that which has knowledge as its mainstay.
Addressing the opening session of the three-day International conference on Knowledge Parks, Dr Ahmed Hasnah, (pictured) Qatar Foundation's Associate Vice President for Higher Education said: "We expect to be an exporter of knowledge as well as gas."
He went on to say how institutions such as the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) will commercialise research and development already under way in Qatar, in partnership with the private sector.
"It is naturally our greatest hope that the new economy will be well entrenched before our gas revenues start falling. We are making huge investments in education because we know that the wealth we are currently enjoying is unsustainable in its present form", Dr Hasnah said. Dr Ahmed Hasnah
The blueprint for Qatar's future will be one based on an educated population which serves as a producer of knowledge that will become the nation's greatest export, Dr Hasnah said.
Delivering the first keynote address of the conference, QSTP Executive Chairman Dr Tidu Maini explained how the $300m QSTP will concentrate on the fields of energy, healthcare and the environment, which according to him, are the three beacons of Qatar's quality of life.
Working in partnership with some of the world's leading businesses, including Exxon, Shell, Tata and Microsoft, QSTP intends to use IT as a means of triggering and accelerating the development of Qatar as a hub for cutting-edge research.
"IT will be used as an "enabler" for multi-disciplinary research in these arenas. This would mean developments in robotics and genomics in healthcare; energy reservoir modelling and the use of nanotechnology in the field of environment and water management research.
The research incubator, which will be opened later this year, will be underpinned by one of the world's largest data centers-the only 'Tier IV' centre outside the US and the largest in
the region. Addressing the opening session, Abdul Waheed Khan, Assistant Director General for Communication and Information, UNESCO, said Knowledge Parks are emerging across the world, in the quest for sustainable growth and economic development to benefit people living in the shadows of prosperity.
"Knowledge societies are not yet a fact, at least not in much of the world. But by presenting a vision of what such societies might become, we have sought to widen the range of choices and possible actions", he said.
Over 200 government leaders and policy makers from across the world are attending the event hosted jointly by Qatar Foundation and ictQATAR. UNESCO is the co-organiser of the meet.
© The Peninsula 2008
