Qatar Open Innovation Programme Sees 80-Plus Pilots Awarded

Qatar Open Innovation (QOI) programme, an external funding opportunity funded by QRDI Council (Qatar Research Development and Innovation Council) has seen more than 80 pilots awarded and underway, making the country a “living lab for world-class innovation”, according to a top official of QRDI Council. 

Through QOI programme, “over 90 open innovation calls have been issued, in collaboration with 50 major enterprise and government partners, resulting in more than 80 pilots awarded and underway,” Nejoud al-Jehani, Executive Director of Strategy and Programmes, QRDI Council, told the second edition of Qatar Investment and Innovation conference. “This model accelerates startup growth while turning Qatar’s economy into a living lab for world-class innovation, where ideas are not only funded, but tested, commercialised and scaled in real market environments,” she said.

 To build a strong innovation economy, there is need for a full range of financing tools as grants, strategic risk capital, co-investment models, venture partnerships and innovation-driven procurement. “But financing the future is not just about increasing capital. It’s about deploying it more wisely and with purpose, targeting mission-driven mega-projects, structuring public-private vehicles that de-risk innovation, building policy frameworks that attract global founders and global investment,” she added.

 The region has developed world-class infrastructure, nurtured exceptional talent and built digital foundations rivalling the most advanced economies, but next chapter will be one that is written through strategic capital, she said. “Capital that accelerates entrepreneurship, fuels research and technology and unlocks new sources of value and resilience,” she added. Highlighting that innovation was once viewed mainly as a policy goal, she said: “Today, it has become an investment priority, rooted in long-term economic sustainability, national competitiveness and the belief that the future belongs to nations that invest in ideas, not only in assets.” Qatar has been embedding innovation financing at the heart of its national transformation, according to her. Under the third national development strategy, the country is committed to expanding national expenditure on research development and innovation and to significantly increasing private sector R&D participation, she said.