Qatar wants to become science hub

By Barbara Bibbo', Correspondent
Published: March 31, 2008, 00:09

Doha:
Qatar's first Science and Technology Park, which will open by the end of the year, is set to become the region's largest research and technology hub, participants in a conference here said.

Built at a cost of $300 million, the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) will focus
on the fields of energy, healthcare and the environment.

QSTP Executive Chairman, Dr. Tidu Maini, delivered a keynote address at the International Conference and Exhibition on Knowledge Parks that is currently taking place in Doha.

The conference was organised by the Qatar Foundation, Unesco, and Qatar's telecommunication regulator ictQATAR.

Working in partnership with some of the world's leading businesses, including Exxon, Shell,
Tata and Microsoft, QSTP intends to develop Qatar into a hub of cutting-edge research, supported by the creative use of IT, Maini said.

Some of the planned research areas are in robotics; the use of genomics in health care and
the use of nano-technology in the field of the environment and water management research, he said.

Outlining Qatar's development vision, Ahmad Hasnaa, Qatar Foundation's Associate Vice
President for Higher Education, told delegates the Government was investing 2.8% of its GDP annually to turn Qatar into the research hub of the region. This is to help transform the country's economy from one based on energy resources into one based on knowledge resources.

Education

Qatar's future will depend on an educated population who will be the creators of knowledge, he said.

"It is our greatest hope that the new economy will be well entrenched before our gas
revenues fall away ... the wealth we are currently enjoying is unsustainable in its present form, based as it is on the export of raw material. Apart from gas, the only other asset we have is our people, and we realise that we must nurture this."

Source: http://www.gulfnews.com/news/gulf/qatar/10201695.html