Qatar Science and Technology Park
Qatar Science & Technology Park is a home for technology-based companies from around the world and an incubator for start-ups enterprises. Providing premises and services, QSTP's support programs help organisations develop and commercialise their technologies.
At the forefront of industry-university collaboration, QSTP is located in Qatar Foundation's Education City, alongside campuses of several leading universities. Its objective, to attract companies and entrepreneurs from around the world, to develop & commercialise their technology in Qatar.
Among our first proud members are EADS, ExxonMobil, GE, Microsoft, Shell and Total; bringing research and business together, while spurring the development of Qatar's knowledge economy.
What we offer:
Innovation Centre - QSTP's business incubator, helping small and young companies to start easily and grow quickly. It provides fully-furnished, ready-to-occupy offices from 45 m2 while meeting rooms, business services and expert advice are all on tap. The Innovation Centre is also the science park's communal hub, featuring cafes and open public spaces.
Tech centres - A pair of two-storey buildings perfectly suited for medium and large companies. The Tech centres are impressive feats of engineering, able to accommodate both heavily equipped laboratories and modern offices. Spaces are available in increments of 500 m2, and each tenant fits out its space to its own unique needs. QSTP's rental charges are competitive with ordinary commercial property in Doha, despite the research-grade specification of its buildings and infrastructure.
Facilities and services:
QSTP provides infrastructure and services designed to support members' day-to-day business needs, and also help them grow fledgling technology companies.
- Advanced voice and data infrastructure. Tenants of the Innovation Centre enjoy a fully managed, high-speed data network and IP telephony
- Meeting rooms with advanced audio-visual systems, plus areas for exhibitions
- "Hot" offices rentable for short periods
- Helpdesk and visitor reception
- Secretarial and document production services
- Full facilities management, security and access control
Free Zone:
QSTP is a free-trade zone, making it easy and attractive to establish a technology-based company in Qatar. Valuable benefits include:
- Incorporate a local company, or operate as a branch of a foreign company
- 100 percent foreign ownership
- Trade without local agent or sponsor
- Hire expatriate employees
- No taxes
- Duty-free import of goods and services
- Unrestricted repatriation of capital and profits
The Qatar Financial Centre is a legal and business environment structured to attract international financial institutions and firms that provide professional services to the financial sector.
Access to research institutes
In 2006 Georgia Tech asked 249 R&D-intensive companies how they chose where to do their research. The answer was that their decision was "most influenced by the ease of collaboration with nearby universities and the presence of faculty with special expertise."
This demonstrates the value of QSTP's key feature: co-location with top-ranked international universities at Doha's Education City, who are establishing teaching and research programs of identical standard as their home campuses.
- Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar is teaching Computer Science and Business, and is establishing research programs based on computer science and robotics
- Texas A&M University at Qatar teaches Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and is establishing a research centre on the utilisation of natural resources and environmental sustainability
- Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar delivers Pre-Med and Medicine degree programs, and is in the planning stages of a major basic and clinical medical research program
- Sidra Medical & Research Center, part of Qatar Foundation, is a hospital that will undertake patient care, medical education and research. Opening in 2011, it has been committed an endowment of $7.9 billion
- Qatar National Research Fund, also part of Qatar Foundation, defines national research priorities and provides grants for research projects.
Other remarkable institutes that add to Qatar's technology base are:
- University of Qatar has a spectrum of science and humanities colleges, with particular strengths in engineering, computer science and materials science
- College of the North Atlantic - Qatar provides advanced vocational training in technical disciplines such as process engineering, instrumentation and IT.