Qatar Science and Technology Park -Updated-

It is after all not just a freezone but a true incubator, first of its kind:

A piece from Dr. Roberts CEO QSTP's press release. "A small and rich Gulf state, Qatar has attracted top-ranked universities such as Carnegie Mellon,Weill Cornell, Georgetown and Texas A&M to its shores under the umbrella of Qatar Foundation.........So important is this collaborative strategy that Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, wife of Qatar's Emir and chair of Qatar Foundation, has in principle secured therevenue from one of the country's oil wells to fund such research - appropriately called the "Wellof Knowledge"."

They did reply to my inquiry and gave the following statement "There is a strong spirit of entrepreneurship in the Gulf region, whichhas traditionally been focused in areas such as construction andtrading. What Qatar Science & Technology Park is trying to do is broadenthat out to include technology entrepreneurship - taking newtechnologies from the lab and building them into profitable businesses.We are building a business incubator now which will open mid 2007, andthis will be supported by programs such as seed funding,entrepreneurship training and mentoring. This is an exciting time forthe Gulf's entrepreneurs and we look forward to building relationshipsas we near our opening."

Seems to be rightly poised for the future but hope they keep up the spirit and maintain transparency, i.e. not being hit by Qatari-ism quotas and let ideas, entrepreneurs and companies come forward on merit. Ofcourse they business has to have ties with the land and the people of the land but it shouldnt be just an award distribution ceremony in a King's court.