QRDI Portal provides competitive advantage for Qatar

The Qatar Research, Development and Innovation (QRDI) Portal is the first of its kind in the region, and provides the country a competitive edge, an official said."QRDI Portal is a very unique one and the first of its kind in the region that aims to support RDI actors in Qatar to connect and collaborate," said Haytham A Ali, senior information system manager, QRDI Council.Addressing the Qatar Spain Innovation Programme launch event recently, Ali explained that the QRDI Portal provides Qatar a competitive advantage as many countries in the region do not have a similar platform."It is a national platform that provides a quick and easy means to navigate the resources, capabilities and infrastructure present in Qatar’s innovation and research ecosystem."We have over 2,840 projects in the portal. There are many entities in Qatar who are working on these projects. These entities have over 250 research facilities and these institutions provide over 266 services. They have produced over 11,800 outputs in the form of publications, patents, books among others,” explained, Ali.According to the official, the QRDI Portal offers a unique opportunity for researchers and innovators to browse thousands of assets and leverage shared resources. Leading institutions in Qatar can reach a wider audience, by showcasing their world-class infrastructure and collaborating with emerging talent, government, private businesses and more.Ali said that the geographic size of the country also is a great enabler of the research and innovation in the country. "Since the country is very small, people can reach the institutions at any location quite fast. Moreover, with the state of the art transportation services and infrastructure, it is easy to navigate through any part of the country very fast. All these help the research ecosystem in the country,” he pointed out.QRDI Portal marks an important step in the creation of an open platform that pools resources and sparks synergies. It directly fulfills the vision outlined by the Qatar Second National Development Strategy to create a "shared research database and develop coordination mechanisms to optimise synergies and the use of resources across Qatar’s research entities.” In alignment with this vision, QRDI Council placed ‘RDI Information Systems’ as one of seven RDI transformation elements in its national RDI strategy, QRDI 2030, and embarked on a mission to launch QRDI Portal.The official also noted that QRDI Portal acts as an online network through which anyone can find partners, resources and tools to innovate. Scientists can pioneer groundbreaking studies, engineers can pilot and test technologies, and designers can cut, carve and model their latest fabrications. The extensive and growing catalogue of equipment, facilities and services available on QRDI Portal lends itself to countless applications.The QRDI Council was established in 2018 to drive RDI efforts on a national level in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the Second National Development Strategy (2018-2022). The QRDI Council has developed a ten-year strategy, QRDI 2030, which seeks to create a locally empowered, globally connected RDI ecosystem, mobilising leadership across government, academia and industry, to transform the social and economic future of Qatar.