THE QATAR Science and Technology Park (QSTP) scheduled to open next summer has already generated active global participation and will herald a new era of awareness.
QSTP hopes to foster a research based economy triggered by the industry giants. The Park will soon be home for technology-based companies from around the world and an incubator for start-up enterprises.
Another boost for technological innovations was the new grant programme announced by QSTP, during this event. This grant will help researchers in Qatar move their innovations from the laboratory to the marketplace. The QSTP Proof of Concept Fund provides up to QR1,825,000 for universities, government agencies and small companies to develop and trial their nascent technologies.
The recent 'Explore QSTP' exhibition, held in collaboration with all their technology partners, highlighted developments since its launch in 2002.
In his inaugural speech, QSTP CEO, Dr Eulien Roberts said, "QSTP offers the ideal environment for companies to develop their technology and deliver it to the thriving Middle East marketplace. We provide office spaces, lab space and commercial services.
This free-trade zone makes it easy to establish a foreign-owned, tax-free company with activities related to technology."
The two day event included seminars by tenants ExxonMobil, Shell, Total, Gartner Lee, GE and Microsoft.
Nurturing natural reservoirs
ExxonMobil Research Qatar (EMRQ) is being established as an anchor tenant at the QSTP with offices, laboratories and training areas to conduct research in areas of common interest for Qatar and ExxonMobil.
EMRQ, Vice President, Beverly Mentzer said that QSTP was a crucial component of HH Sheikha Mozah's vision to build a world-class technology centre in Qatar.
The company has already initiated the EMRQ research programme at its upstream Research Centre in Houston to ensure a smooth and rapid transition to operations in Education City when the Science Park opens.
"In 2006, EMRQ launched its first research project to evaluate the potential formation and impact of chlorination by-products due to the discharge of cooling seawater in the coastal waters near Ras Laffan Industrial City. The study involves offshore marine surveys, laboratory experiments and modelling of the transport and breakdown of residual chlorine," said Mentzer.
The other major issues addressed through the research will be environment management, LNG safety and sulphur management.
EMRQ will spend $600 million annually on research and management for the first six years.
Shell signed an MOU in 2003, to become one of the anchor tenants in QSTP and have started their programmes well in advance in theirtemporary accommodation at the Education City.The Qatar Shell Research Technology Centre (QSRTC) will initially focus on exploration, production and GTL technologies, utilisation of GTL by-products as well as training programmes and this will also be part of Shell's global research, according to Jeroen Muhammad Ra'uf Moors, Technology Manager, Shell.
Shell plans to spend $100 million over the ten-year period on R&D.
"Total participates in all the activities of the oil and gas chain in Qatar from exploration and production to refining and petrochemicals. By establishing a Research and Development Centre in the Middle East, on the site of QSTP, Total reaffirms its determination to accompany the expansion of Qatar's energy industry," said Dominique Laurier, Deputy Manager of Geosciences Technologies Divison, Total Research Centre Qatar.Total Research Centre-Qatar (TRC-Q) will focus on three major activities, research and development of new technologies, training of students and professionals and technical assistance for local industries. The research and development programmes will deal with oil and gas multi-phase production, carbonate reservoir modelling, polymer production and air quality management.
"A budget of $25 million over a period of five years with 15 to 20 permanent members at the site is what Total is aiming for," said Laurier.Gartner Lee is the earliest environment specialist from Canada which started as early as 1973 and their strategic approach yields solutions that integrate client needs and long term environmental sustainability.
"We are focusing on environmental strategical solutions. Waste management and water management will be our main focus. We are already in touch with the government in Qatar for the research of this project. We have also started work on the Waste recycling programme.
We have just completed a wastemanagement project for Abu Dhabi which will be in use for the next twenty years. We are doing a wastemanagement programme in Kuwait, where the landfills are being closed.
We are helping in cleaning up the contaminated lands there, which was caused by the war there," "Qatar is a smaller market. We are collaborating with other research companies to work on reducing carbon emissions.
It is interesting to know that for every ton of methane generated in landfills, it is equivalent to 21 tonnes of carbon dioxide. So land fills are the biggest culprits. We will be researching on these issues of concern," said Ron Portelli, Vice-President, Gartner Lee Ltd.
GE Company is setting up its new technology facility, The GE Technology and Learning Centre at the QSTP.
With an initial five-year investment in research and training of $50 million with various GE divisions participating, is what GE has planned at this new centre.
"GE will lead the following activities in this centre, aviation, energy and global research. In aviation, the centre will provide education and training in jet engine maintenance. In the energy sector, GE will focus on employees and customer training on equipment operation and maintenance and plant asset management.
The global research will be conducted to enhance the Qatari technology and economic goals. Water technology the applicability of large-scale desalination and purification of sea water, waste water will be a main area of research.
Emission technologies, setting environmental standards will also be considered.
Maintenance of the oil and gas infrastructure equipment, installing pipelines etc will also be an area of interest for GE here at the centre," said Hasan Dandashly, General Manager, Qatar Technology and Research Centre, GE.
At the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), Microsoft will be dealing with training, product development and working with universities on research programmes. The company will ensure that training centres are Microsoft-certified in the training portion of its initiatives.
In conjunction with Microsoft offices throughout the world, it will be working on the Office for Kids programme.
"We will also be working with Carnegie-Mellon University here, supporting their initiative to increase advancement of students using the English language," said Mohammad Hammoudi, Country Manager, Microsoft.
Microsoft, Rolls Royce and EADS also actively participated in the exhibition as research centres of competence in their area of expertise.
The global giants vowed to contribute to the 'Think tank' fraternity of the region, while focusing on an era of sustainable environment.
Future Qatar Innovations
Along with this awareness programme, an innovative competition for the future generation was also organised. The theme of the competition was to envisage the future of the country 25 years from now.
Hundreds of primary school and high school pupils entered the competition.
Entries were judged by a panel of science, technology and academic professionals, and a selection of the most innovative competition entries were displayed at the Ritz-Carlton during Explore QSTP.
"Technological innovation is of utmost importance to building a knowledge economy, so we are delighted that the Qatar 2031 Time Capsule Competition has been embraced so enthusiastically. It is important to QSTP that the general public and youth of Qatar are aware of the activities that will take place at the science park, as the whole community will benefit from them in the long term," said Roberts about this competition.
Christina Lindholm, Dean of VCU presented each of the winners with a laptop computer. The Qatar 2031 Time Capsule, which will be buried at the site of QSTP after the event, will also include all the names of the students who entered the competition, along with their ideas of how Qatar will look after 25 years which is when the time capsule will be recovered.
"It is extremely encouraging to see such a high level of design creativity by the youth. The panel of judges had a tough time choosing just five winners and I would like to congratulate all those students who took part, many of whom obviously have a bright future ahead of them," commented Lindholm.
Commercial technology
QATAR Today spoke to Dr Eulian Roberts, Cheif Executive of QSTP to understand how the country will benefit from these research plans.
|q| This programme has been in the planning stage for some time now, why is there a delay in the final launch of QSTP?
|a| QSTP has been in the developing phase for two and half years.
That is not unusual in a science park of such a huge scale. Like many things, we would like it to happen more quickly, but there are things that take time to put in place. We could develop our own strategy and the building with just our inputs.
But then it would be without the inputs of our early clients who have heavily influenced us in the design of the park and also advised us on some of the salient features the research facility should have. The time scale or the delay as you say, we are taking for the project, will make sure that we are delivering the right product that will benefit the clients as well as the country and the research economy as well.
|q| Will the interest generated meet the expectation when the product is finally launched?
|a| The product will fit the client's needs. That is also the intention of QSTP. But QSTP has been very careful not to over emphasise what we are going to do, before we can actually demonstrate what we are doing. We made a deliberate choice not to go out and get our tenants here before they really started any work on the research.
QSTP and even QF have been very careful in this area. We have made a conscious effort not to go public well before we are actually doing something. This is quite different from other activities that happen in the region, wherein you are given information very early and nothing happens for a long time.
QSTP takes effort not to raise expectations early on and then fail miserably in delivering it; on the contrary we deliver what we promise.
|q| What are the services that QSTP will provide to a tenant?
|a| We will provide accommodation, fully serviced office and laboratory services, multi-occupancy from 45 sq mt to 6,000 sq mt and also single occupancy buildings, services like business development and operational services and research facilities. We will also provide commercialization support and link with the universities, industry as well as the government.
|q| What is the entry criterion? And what are the advantages your tenants will benefit from, by being a part of this park?
|a| QSTP will accommodate organizations whose predominant activity is R&D, product or process development and technology related training.
It will also accommodate technology start-up companies. Specialist service providers for technology related companies will also be granted entry.
The clients will have dedicated facilities and services, a pro-business environment and incentives, a commercially managed as well as a non-profit management, visibility and exposure to Qatari industries and it will also have all the benefits of a free-zone area with 100 percent foreign ownership allowed in this area.
There will be unlimited repartition of capitals and profits as well.
The students and the university will benefit by the employment opportunities, industry research opportunities for faculty and internship opportunities for students.
The QSTP Proof of Concept Fund provides grants between QR365,000 and QR1,825,000 for up to six projects a year. Applicants can be academic institutions, public-sector institutions and small to medium companies located in Qatar. Grants can be used to build prototypes, conduct market surveys and protect intellectual property.
The fund will be managed by Paul Fields, QSTP's Technology Transfer Manager.
We are also planning to launch a start-up fund and a venture-capital fund before the end of the year to encourage participation from the universities and the student community.
|q| Do the companies work under you or do they work independently?
|a| We just provide them an environment to do their own work or experiment. But this is just one part of the activity; our major area of interest would be to provide a platform for small enterprises or individuals with valid and viable research ideas to work on these and develop them into a bigger research area.
|q| How does QF benefit from this?
|a| QF, in a process of undertaking research activities and QSTP provides a commercial platform to these activities. QSTP just provides an environment for research programmes.
An excess of 350 technology graduates will be coming out of the branch campuses of QF in three years. But where are the employment opportunities for them?
Some of them would want to go into academic careers and that is answered by the universities abounding in the region and some would optfor working in a non technical job, which would also be answered by the companies here. Some of them would want to work in global companies and with QSTP clients they would get enough opportunities. We wouldn't want students to leave the country for good employment and so QSTP answers some of the immediate problems. And the research areas would be of great value to the students as well as the faculty.
|q| Will expatriates who have viable research ideas be able to participate in QSTP?
|a| Yes. We have no Qatarisation plans within the QSTP and there is no restriction here, when it comes to any new ideas or research possibilities.
|q| Are there any key areas of research that you will insist upon, that will benefit the country?
|a| There is a research being done by QF which deals with key strategies of Qatar and which is being done by Qatar National Research Fund, which is at an early stage of conception within the QF. But this QNRF will be dealing with areas of concern in the environment and oil and gas industry of the country and the region.
Environment is going to be key area of concern since the Qatar government is also giving it the much needed boost.
Fostering ideas and amking them work
QATAR Today spoke to Charles E. "Chuck" Thorpe, first dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar and a member of its faculty teaching robotics, to find out how his students are looking forward to this new concept of knowledge acquisition.
|q| What do you gain from QSTP and what will QF be giving to QSTP?
|a| This is a kind of win-win situation. As QSTP matures and attracts more clients, it makes it easier and easier to do my job. The engine that drives Carnegie Mellon is research. It is research that informs our teaching and it is research that keeps our under graduates involved in, it teaches our faculty. The more the QSTP grows the more are our possibilities for research, to look for interesting ideas. It is easy to generate ideas but to put them to work is most difficult.
Unless you direct your ideas to a solution or see them work, the ideas are of not much use. If some of our graduates can join the companies across the road and apply their theories in an innovative environment, it is much more productive than just writing a thesis paper.
The right financial help is crucial in putting theories into practise. This is going to be simpler once QSTP begins. After the initial screening to check how viable the concepts are, the students can now confidently see their dreams into reality. Young minds are best idea generating engines and some of their solutions can be beneficial to QSTP and the country as well.
|q| How is the interest of the students in areas of research?
|a| Of the 80 students with us, 24 of them did internships in companies large and small, governmental organisations and banking institutions.
They are very much interested in the practical side of the theory papers that they are studying.
Most of them interned in the country while some of them did it in their country. All of them are motivated, they say, "Now we understand why we studied this and how we can apply this into here."Some of them even come back saying, "Do you know, we don't have to work quite so hard out there, like we do here in the university."
But they are very much interested in the field of practical application.
We already have students developing web pages and the interest is evident but since they are still in their third years and below, it is just the beginning of research programmes.
|q| Any examples in the University where a student's idea generated enough interest to be developed commercially?
|a| There is a Master's programme in Pittsburgh from the entertainment technology side, which is a tie between computer science and drama department, putting this together we produce people who do the digital technology and who also know how to tell a good story.
Two students for their Master's Degree thesis produced a programme called the Peacemaker game, where you get to be either the President of Palestine or the authority of the Israel side. You have to do enough good things to get the power and win the game, though the strategies of the game are quite complicated and real-life. These students completed their degree but they are now trying to commercialise this game.
They are an ideal candidate for the QSTP. We need to get the connections and give these students a good chance for the QSTP Proof of Concept Fund.
The robotics division is also very active and has come up with very innovative applications that would help solve some traffic issues too. We are still working on these.
|q| How does a student take his idea or proposal forward, to make it viable?
|a| QSTP has a group of people who analyses the feasibility of the project and then at this stage they can apply for the Proof of Concept Fund and then work out the statistics of the project with this funding from QSTP and develop their programme.
Once the project proves its capability, it can apply for the next level of funding too.
Other than the facilities inside the QSTP, already mentioned, some mentoring and advice will be provided to give the students an extra boost.
After this we help them get the resources, like the human resources and also to set up premises with in QSTP.
So we help them with the financing side and the physical side too.
By Sindhu Nair
© Qatar Today 2006
