Chan Meng Khoong

DOHA: The Information and Communications Technology’s (ict) contribution to Qatar’s GDP will grow significantly over the next few years, said Chan Meng Khoong, ictQATAR’s Government CIO.

Khoong, who is just back from the “FutureGov” summit in Bali, Indonesia, was sharing the deliberations at the IT summit.

For Qatar, knowledge can be a new fuel driving the economy, helping government to become more efficient, enabling business to be a lot more productive. Knowledge leads Qatar to create new ways of doing things, and spawns totally new industries.

On ictQATAR’s initiatives in taking Qatar to a knowledge-based society, Khoong said ictQATAR has been running a series of programmes, directly enabling the nation vision of Qatar.

“Our programmes are aimed at building up knowledge that can fuel industries to become economically vibrant. We are facilitating this through programmes spanning from e-government to e-education to cyber safety and security”, he said.

Over the next three to five years, there will be good measurable impact seen in terms of how ictQATAR has enabled a more efficient government, better access to education, increased foreign investment, and more, he added.

On the challenges Qatar faces in its transition to a knowledge-based society, Khoong said. “Qatar has to continue leveraging supply of human capital from outside the country. As far as the intellectual capital is concerned we can outsource this easily and ‘rent’ the use of knowledge, but once these consultants leave, the intellectual capital leaves with them. Knowledge is a new fuel for economics that are witnessing rapid growth”.

International organisations like the United Nations and World Economic Forum are conducting annual survey and their reports indicate that impacts of ictQATAR’ programmes are increasingly felt in more tangible way. “The progress is definitely showing. The knowledge society beckons, and if we put all our minds and hearts into the journey, we will get there”, he said.

At the Bali meet, Khoong presented a paper on “Building sustainable Knowledge Societies’.