Issue
Science and innovation are at the heart of government strategy for promoting prosperity and growth. Research and knowledge is increasingly developed and transferred through international collaboration which provides opportunities to work with emerging institutions, leading regional researchers and students to the benefit of the UK and Gulf partners.
Actions
To promote international collaboration the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office jointly fund the UK Science and Innovation Network (SIN), based in 28 countries around the world.
SIN Gulf works to the following global objectives:
influence science and innovation policies of governments, industry and academia to benefit the UK;
improve UK policy based on international experience and emerging opportunities;
stimulate strategic science collaborations with governments to benefit the UK and deliver wider policy goals;
harness Gulf technology partnerships and investment to grow UK innovation capability.
Science and Innovation in the Gulf
SIN (Gulf), based at the British Embassy Doha, supports science and innovation partnering in the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates). A quick snapshot:
Qatar plans to spend 2.8% of its national budget annually on research. It is investing heavily in infrastructure and programmes to build a knowledge economy, but a small Qatari population and indigenous research community remains a planning challenge. Research focus is on energy & environment, health, ICT and social sciences. Saudi Arabia has the strongest research base of the region spread across a number of research institutions and universities. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has been set up to instil an ethos of research excellence principally through strategic collaborations with international partners; In UAE R&D investment is mainly commercial, but there are plans for a new government research strategy which will raise research spending to 0.75% of GDP by 2018. The funding will focus on research into: microelectronics, aerospace, energy, health, and culture & heritage. The Masdar Institute is a centre of research excellence in environment and energy. Kuwait has the potential to invest large sums in R&D, but awaits planning decisions at its principal research institution, Kuwait University. Bahrain and Oman have small R&D sectors which offer research partnering opportunities via Bahrain University and Sultan Qaboos University (Oman) in health, energy, water and agriculture.
Recent Science and Innovation Partnerships
Shell / Qatar Petroleum / Imperial College London - Carbonates and Carbon Storage Centre. This is currently Imperial College London’s largest overseas research investment. The project is currently based on the Kensington Campus, but will move shortly to the Qatar Science and Technology Park.
Imperial College London / Hamad Medical Corporation - Qatar Biobank. This cohort study will map over time health indicators of 20% of the Qatari and long term resident population. The study will match data produced in similar UK and European biobank programmes.
Imperial College London / Qatar Foundation - Qatar Robotics Surgery Centre – This training and software development centre will advance research into robotic surgery. It is based on the Qatar Science and Technology Park.
Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation / Qatar Foundation - Qatar Cardiovascular Research Centre. This will become a regional centre for cardiovascular research. It is based on the Qatar Science and Technology Park.
The Qatar Museum Authority / British Library - Digitalisation of Gulf Records Project – This project will digitalise index and annotate the British Library collection of Gulf records and Arab scientific manuscripts improving access.
Imperial College London Diabetes Centre in partnership with Mubadala Healthcare specialises in Diabetes treatment, research, training & public health. It has centres in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.
The Imperial /KAUST Partnership in material science and chemical engineering supports HR development and collaborative research.
Opportunities
In September 2013 the UK (BIS, British Council & Universities UK - International Unit) and the Qatar Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Research and Education which creates a structure for bilateral science and innovation collaboration over the next five years.
The Qatar National Research Fund - National Priorities Research Programme supports international research engagement. Approx US$650 million has been distributed over six years with an average US$1 million to each joint research partnership over 3 years. 35% of these funds can be spent outside Qatar. With a success rate of nearly 40% UK institutions have bid successfully into 69 projects with Qatari partners. The 7th round of the programme is now open.
Contact details for the SIN (Gulf) Team
Science and Innovation Network (Gulf)
British Embassy
PO Box 3, Doha, State of Qatar
Telephone: +974 4496 2057
Email: [dominic.mcallister@fco.gov.uk](mailto:dominic.mcallister@fco.gov.uk)