Dr Soud Khalifa Al-Thani
Advancing “high-tech” was one of the items on Kuala Lumpur Summit’s agenda. The most populous (Muslim) countries in the world have a long way to go before they could catch up to the information age that the developed countries currently live, to eventually affect technology advancement, not only be affected by it. But, could the abundance of natural and human resources available to these countries be utilized for rapid growth of tech industries? What could a country like Qatar do to truly embrace the innovation-driven economy and further foster technology development domestically and regionally?
For the past several years, the Qatari government has been creating institutional “engines” to kickstart the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Qatar. Most notably, Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) is the front promoter of innovation culture in Qatar by pairing businesses and academic institutions; Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) is Qatar’s generous arm of funding scientific research of local and international researchers; Qatar Financial Center (QFC) is the platform that attracts both nascent and developed businesses to Qatar; Qatar Free Zones (QFZ) is another attractive environment for international businesses to locate in Qatar with a promising potential to diversify Qatar’s economy by the addition of technology development sites of companies such as UniStrong and Gaussin; Qatar Development Bank (QDP) financially supports Qatari small and medium enterprises and has remarkably backed self-sufficiency efforts against the blockade on Qatar.
These Qatari organizations have made great strides in local technology development. They can only get better by examining some concepts that measure institutional effectiveness with regard to technology development:
Do we effectively manage the flow of technical knowledge, and the dynamics, between universities and companies?
Q Is equal care given to companies, research institutions and people?
Q Do we have open and direct communication channels between companies, individual entrepreneurs and technology specialists?
Q Do available environments enhance cultures of innovation and creativity? Do these environments avail equal opportunity?
Q Are there effective procedures that facilitate the creation of new businesses, e.g. via incubation and spin-off, and accelerate the growth of small companies?
Q Have we created strong international ties and global network(s) that connect us with other innovative companies and research institutions? Will it be easy to facilitate the internationalization of local/resident companies?
Continually addressing these questions, rather than trying to answer them, puts us on a road to thriving in new technology development. And as far as our intuitions are methodologically approaching these questions, we can start the discourse and the institutional efforts on financial return and growth.
Spending on research, development and innovation has certainly spurred productivity and continues to increase integration of information and communications technology with the Qatari economy. This spending, however, is no substitute for private capital, especially when it comes to commercialization. Southern San Francisco Bay Area would not have been the “Silicon Valley” that it is today if it had not been for Sand Hill Road – where venture capitalists located to invest in startups coming out of universities, mainly Stanford.
Venture funding plays a critical role is in the stages that follow R&D to turn innovation into the product. This is the money that facilitates commercialization and may go into costs of manufacturing, marketing, sales, or simply expenses of “keeping the lights on.” The venture money can not be but private capital.
The zeal of fiduciary duty is what drives successful commercialization. Private funding is the only compelling way to answer hard questions about the future of a venture like what are actual motivations of the working team? Is everyone on the team aligned on the same final goal?
What is the initial target market, and will there be an emerging market for the product? Do the entrepreneurs have a realistic perspective of the market and competitive landscape? Questions like these, to assess the team, market, technology, trends, traction and investment terms, are essential to the success of a tech development venture.
One possible way to encourage private investments in blended capital, public and private, to commercialize and make profit coupled with governmental efforts to create apt policies and programs to encourage business to innovate and heighten added value.
Besides being a weak link in the entrepreneurship ecosystem, able private investors will be missing on the tailwinds of technology development if they do not cease chances.
“Growth hacking” is another realm to improve in our emerging entrepreneurship ecosystem. Leading companies to grow is a skill and a culture that we need to learn and propagate. Contrary to what many might think, the size of the Qatari market is not an issue in tech development. Many countries have flourished beyond their relative size with large penetration into international markets. In this regard, the Qatari government has exerted efforts and spent wealth to foster entrepreneurship and grow tech development ecosystem. Most recently, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) appears to have a larger appetite for tech investments which can embolden other institutional investors in Qatar to follow, broadening international trade.
Much like Qatar, Taiwan is a small island, off the coast of China, with a relatively small population. Nonetheless, Taiwan has matured as an innovation-driven economy for the past two decades, according to the World Economic Forum’s report on global competitiveness. Taiwan ranks in top 5 nations with highest broadband speed, produces more than 50 percent of the world’s integrated circuits and many of the laptops sold around the world. Taiwan’s population has almost 100 per cent literacy rate and ranks in the world’s top 5 countries with highest standardized math test scores. More than a quarter of all university degrees conferred in the country are in engineering. These great strides have come as a result of the country’s encouraging business environment and the national drive for the country to become an international hub of technology.
Technology has become the key aspect of every successful enterprise and developing it is becoming the standard to make the distinction between developed and developing countries. After all, technology, especially digital technology, is not only critical of economic growth, national security, and international competitiveness, it is a catalyst for sustainable development.
Dr Soud is the Sustainability Director at ASTAD and Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Development at Hamad Bin Khalifa University.dr
