QRDI Council Participates as Global Innovation Partner at London Tech Week 2024

London Tech Week

As part of its ongoing efforts to strengthen connections between the RDI ecosystem in Qatar and globally, the Qatar Research, Development, and Innovation (QRDI) Council participated in London Tech Week (LTW) 2024 as the Global Innovation Partner.

The event, held from June 10 to 12, 2024, at Olympia in London, UK, attracted 45,000 attendees, including corporates, startups, investors, and policymakers. London Tech Week provided a unique platform for showcasing Qatar's thought leadership and value propositions in the technology and innovation space.

The QRDI Council delegation, which included leaders from Qatar Investment Authority, Invest Qatar, Qatar Development Bank, Milaha, and Qatar University, engaged in critical discussions with international counterparts. These discussions emphasized Qatar's commitment to fostering a robust Research, Development, and Innovation (RDI) ecosystem.

During the Global Leaders Innovation Summit at London Tech Week 2024, QRDI Council hosted a roundtable session on June 10 titled "Responsible & Inclusive Tech: How do we build and sustain an inclusive tech ecosystem?". This invite-only session brought together key innovation leaders to discuss the impact of technology-driven innovations on people's lives and work and how to mitigate the negative impacts of these innovations without hindering their progress.

Also, on the first day of LTW, Dr. Abdulaziz Khalid Al Ali from Qatar University participated in a panel discussion titled "The Power of AI to Transform Industries". This discussion focused on the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) and its implications for productivity, efficiency, and business success.

On the second day, June 11, 2024, QRDI Council’s Chief Advisor for Innovation and Enterprise, Dr. Maher Hakim, delivered two sessions. The first session, "Technology Innovation: It Is Not All Rosy", highlighted the threats posed by technology innovation and the need for new approaches and tools to guide collective investments in future technologies and innovations. The second session, "Financing Your Startup: There are a lot more options than you think!", discussed the various types of startups, their stages, and the diverse sources of financing available to entrepreneurs globally and in Qatar.

Milaha’s Vice-President of Container Shipping, Peter Verheijen, spoke in a panel discussion about "Green Supply Chains - Driving Decarbonisation at Scale". This discussion covered key points such as transport decarbonization, lower carbon supply chains, accelerating zero-emissions transitions, and circular supply chains. Additionally, QDB’s Senior Manager of Investment, Mohammed Al-Emadi, contributed to a session titled "Does Place Matter? Where To Found a Startup and How To Go Global", discussing the various options available to startups considering going global, with a particular focus on what is available in Qatar.