Faisal al-Suwaidi speaking at a research-industry partnership meeting yesterday.
By Joseph Varghese/Staff Reporter
The research and development initiatives that are going on in Qatar are set to address the grand challenges of the country, opined Faisal al-Suwaidi, president of Research and Development at Qatar Foundation.
He was delivering the keynote address at the second research-industry partnership meeting organised by Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ) yesterday.
Titled ‘Research and Industry: Building on Success’ the event highlighted the research work undertaken by the university’s researchers. Researchers from the region as well as top Qatar Foundation officials were present on the occasion. There were 36 technical presentations and 90 poster presentations during the event at the Qatar National Convention Centre.
Al-Suwaidi said that Qatar National Research Strategy (QNRS) aimed to address the specific priorities and grand challenges of the country. “QNRF will enable all the researches in the country while the research and development institutes will conduct researches and Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) will facilitate commercialisation of the research outcomes. Qatar Foundation’s research and development division will facilitate, monitor and evaluate the research activities,” he added.
Al-Suwaidi said the country was focusing on the challenges such as food, water, energy, environment and health, adding: “We are building an innovative ecosystem to address these challenges. We have a vision, strategy and unwavering leadership committed to tackle the problems and find out solutions.”
Dr Mark H Weichold, dean and CEO of TAMUQ, said: “The annual research forum represents the vibrancy of TAMUQ’s research programme and the dynamic and collaborative relationships that exist between the university and industry partners. Qatar is making great strides toward its goal of becoming a knowledge hub and a centre of global learning, and TAMUQ’s research capacity helps to build the nation’s technical and scientific capacity to achieve this goal.”
Dr Eyad Masad, assistant dean for Research and Graduate Studies at TAMUQ, said that the research initiatives of the university were well in line with the national research strategy. “We have an internationally recognised research programmme as well as international collaboration with competent organisations. We aim to disseminate research outcomes to the country as part of our knowledge transfer, he said, adding: “The research activities of the university were mainly focused on developing petroleum technologies, ICT, system engineering, energy, water and environment safety and material science engineering.”
The event was an occasion for dialogue between university researchers and industry representatives on collaboration potentials, mutual interests and shared opportunities for advancing Qatar’s National Vision and strategic development goals through strategic research partnerships. The daylong event included keynote presentations by leaders from Qatar Foundation and local industry, four themed breakout sessions and a poster session, as well as panel discussions.
BELOW: A section of the audience.