Innovation Capability Building Program

Program Purpose

Develop and retain a strong base of innovation talent (Business RSEs, Entrepreneurs, Innovation Leaders) in Qatar & encourage innovation mindset in government and industry

Target Audiences:

  • Public and business leaders
  • R&D-based start-ups and SMEs
  • Local and International individuals interested in an innovation career in Qatar

Funding Initiatives:

Product Development Management

enables leadership and technical teams from non-incubated R&D-based startups and SMEs to conduct product development and innovation to serve local needs and global markets

Government Innovation Leaders

  • is a five-day training program targeting middle-level managers within government entities seeking innovation-based solutions to their ministry and sector’s challenges. The aim of this program is to inspire and equip participants to be the next generation of innovation pioneers in the government sector.

Corporate Leadership Innovation

  • offers senior executives from large local enterprises opportunities to expand their entity’s institutional capacity for tech-development through the development of their entity’s innovation strategies to boost technology adoption, encourage partnerships with R&D-intensive businesses to deploy, implement and co-develop innovative solutions to enhance competitiveness and performance.

Innovation Fellowship Program

  • A 3-year grant that develops a pool of doctoral research talent (PhD Track) or emerging product developers and entrepreneurs (Fellowship Track) in Qatar with industry-relevant skill-sets through training in both the academic and corporate R&D environment.

Key Success Measures:

  • Innovation mindset among public and business leaders
  • Increased number of industrial PhDs
  • Increased number of Research Scientists and Engineers, and product developers in industry

Key performance indicators:

  • Number of industrial scholarships provided
  • Number of RSEs from academia spun out to R&D-intensive industry
  • Number of individuals trained though QRDI-C mindset workshops

Benefits to Program Recipients:

  • Gain experience and the skills needed to identify innovation opportunities and create a case for change
  • Develop skills needed to succeed in the new economy and access better job opportunities
  • Receive funding to pursue professional development into innovation related careers

Benefits to Qatar

  • Create an innovation mindset amongst public and business leaders
  • Building institutional capacity in government and corporation to drive and lead technology development pilots in Qatar
  • Creating a local community of product developers and managers to boost collective knowledge and peer-to-peer learning