26 April 2016
DOHA: Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), a member of Qatar Foundation (QF), has filed over 80 applications seeking international patents under the 'Patent Cooperation Treaty' (PCT) for its innovative and cutting-edge technologies, a top official of the QCRI said yesterday.
The national research institute, within six years of its inception, has successfully bagged over a dozen patent rights for intellectual properties developed in different fields, including Data Analytics, Arabic Language Technologies and Social Computing.
"We have been granted some 15 patents for the US and European Union for the applications filed under PCT. It has been our focus area since the inception. QCRI has also been successful in obtaining licenses for commercializing many of its innovative technologies," Dr Ahmed Elmagarmid, Executive Director of QCRI told The Peninsula on the sidelines of seminar organised by Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU) in collaboration with QCRI and Qatar Chamber (QC) .
He added: "In addition to the above technological advancements in various fields, we have been able to manage and build a very strong team of local and foreign minds who have been developing 'know-how', technologies and linking it to Qatar's needs."
He said that the objective of organising this one-day seminar was to introduce the works of QCRI and its major achievements to the Chamber and its members.
The QCRI is looking to join hands with some private companies to commercialse the innovative technologies developed by the institute. In the past it had established partnerships with many prominent organizations, such as Al Jazeera Media Network, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) of MIT, among others.
Present at the event were distinguished guests from HBKU and QCRI, and prominent business leaders, including Mohamed bin Ahmed bin Tawar Al Kuwari, Vice-Chairman of QC.
Dr Elmagarmid, a former professor of Pennsylvania State University, is an expert in Database system. Before taking the responsibility as founder executive director of QCRI, he founded two successful organisations with funding from the Lilly Endowment and the State of Indiana: the Indiana Center for Database Systems (ICDS) and the Cyber Center (CC). He was appointed corporate Chief Scientist for Hewlett-Packard (HP) during HP's acquisition of Compaq.
Elmagarmid stressed that QCRI supports the mission to build Qatar's innovation and technology capacity by focusing on large-scale computing challenges that address national priorities for growth and development as well as to become a global leader of computing research in identified areas that will bring positive impact to the lives of people.
Some of the QCRI's research programmes include , Data Analytics, Distributed System, Computational Science and Engineering, Social Computing, and Cyber Security, with special focus on threat analysis and mitigation, cyber intelligence, and developing technological solutions to address cyber problems affecting Qatar's critical infrastructures in key industrial sectors.
"Currently we are working on three major issues which include: Industrial Control System, Cyber intelligence and Intrusion and Malware," Elmagarmid added. "Before any cyber attacks there are a lot of jitters on Internet such as social media. By analysing all this information, we can predict any cyber threat before they come."
DOHA: Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), a member of Qatar Foundation (QF), has filed over 80 applications seeking international patents under the 'Patent Cooperation Treaty' (PCT) for its innovative and cutting-edge technologies, a top official of the QCRI said yesterday.
The national research institute, within six years of its inception, has successfully bagged over a dozen patent rights for intellectual properties developed in different fields, including Data Analytics, Arabic Language Technologies and Social Computing.
"We have been granted some 15 patents for the US and European Union for the applications filed under PCT. It has been our focus area since the inception. QCRI has also been successful in obtaining licenses for commercializing many of its innovative technologies," Dr Ahmed Elmagarmid, Executive Director of QCRI told The Peninsula on the sidelines of seminar organised by Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU) in collaboration with QCRI and Qatar Chamber (QC) .
He added: "In addition to the above technological advancements in various fields, we have been able to manage and build a very strong team of local and foreign minds who have been developing 'know-how', technologies and linking it to Qatar's needs."
He said that the objective of organising this one-day seminar was to introduce the works of QCRI and its major achievements to the Chamber and its members.
The QCRI is looking to join hands with some private companies to commercialse the innovative technologies developed by the institute. In the past it had established partnerships with many prominent organizations, such as Al Jazeera Media Network, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) of MIT, among others.
Present at the event were distinguished guests from HBKU and QCRI, and prominent business leaders, including Mohamed bin Ahmed bin Tawar Al Kuwari, Vice-Chairman of QC.
Dr Elmagarmid, a former professor of Pennsylvania State University, is an expert in Database system. Before taking the responsibility as founder executive director of QCRI, he founded two successful organisations with funding from the Lilly Endowment and the State of Indiana: the Indiana Center for Database Systems (ICDS) and the Cyber Center (CC). He was appointed corporate Chief Scientist for Hewlett-Packard (HP) during HP's acquisition of Compaq.
Elmagarmid stressed that QCRI supports the mission to build Qatar's innovation and technology capacity by focusing on large-scale computing challenges that address national priorities for growth and development as well as to become a global leader of computing research in identified areas that will bring positive impact to the lives of people.
Some of the QCRI's research programmes include , Data Analytics, Distributed System, Computational Science and Engineering, Social Computing, and Cyber Security, with special focus on threat analysis and mitigation, cyber intelligence, and developing technological solutions to address cyber problems affecting Qatar's critical infrastructures in key industrial sectors.
"Currently we are working on three major issues which include: Industrial Control System, Cyber intelligence and Intrusion and Malware," Elmagarmid added. "Before any cyber attacks there are a lot of jitters on Internet such as social media. By analysing all this information, we can predict any cyber threat before they come."
© The Peninsula 2016
