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QRDI Council’s 10-year strategy, QRDI 2030, aimed at creating create locally-empowered and globally-connected RDI ecosystem
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Council explains how RDI will build upon the country’s existing world-class infrastructure
Research, Development and Innovation are key to unlocking success and prosperity in the future, where the success of nations will be determined by the competitiveness of their talent base globally, said Omar Ali Al-Ansari, secretary-general of The Qatar Research, Development, and Innovation (QRDI) Council.
He was speaking at a panel discussion “Russia-Qatar Innovation Dialogue” during the ongoing St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) which has so far seen 20,000 attendees and close to 50 entities from Qatar. Qatar is this year’s guest nation at the event.
Moderated by Alexander Kuleshov, rector of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, the one-hour discussion covered the subject of innovation as Russia and Qatar have both RDI at the top of their agendas.
The QRDI Council highlighted the reasons for which RDI has become a focus in Qatar and RDI-related initiatives that are underway. At the same time, QRDI Council also shared its perspective on how RDI will leverage and build upon the country’s existing world-class infrastructure and industry successes to deliver a future growth platform that drives economic prosperity.
The panelists discussed how important linkages need to be made across different kinds of entities, such as large corporations, SMEs, start-ups, government agencies and knowledge institutions.
They also discussed the tools and regulatory initiatives that can help foster a healthy innovation ecosystem and the role that government, investment funds and development funds all play in fostering and attracting RDI-driven businesses to their respective countries.
The discussions relate to QRDI Council’s central area of focus, which is to develop and implement the national strategy for RDI in Qatar. Known as QRDI 2030, the 10-year strategy aims to transform Qatar’s RDI ecosystem, ushering in a new era for Qatar which sees boosted productivity, new job opportunities and solutions to domestic challenges. QRDI 2030 presents seven transformation elements to develop the RDI ecosystem in Qatar and five national priority areas on which to center future RDI activity.