QRDI Council announces awardees of Technology Development Grant programme

The Qatar Research, Development, and Innovation (QRDI) Council has announced that four local companies, namely Karty LLC, Qatar Navigation QPSC (Milaha), Cytomate, and Syook have been awarded the Technology Development Grant ( TDG) programme.The TDG programme is another instrument from QRDI Council to establish a dynamic R&D ecosystem for the QRDI 2030 strategy. The programme mainly targets for-profit companies operating in Qatar - Small & Medium Enterprises, startups, Large Local Enterprises, and multinational corporations to support their R&D-based product development or process innovation projects.Projects are funded with grants up to QR10mn to help companies undertake technology, product, or process development projects that will significantly improve their competitiveness in their target markets. To be eligible for support, all development must be carried out locally, and companies are expected to provide job opportunities for local tech talent for their projects. The grant is running as a pilot and will be expanded more broadly after its soft launch."The TDG programme demonstrates QRDI Council's commitment to driving innovation and technological advancement in Qatar. Through this and other initiatives, we aim to increase the capacity for innovation in the country and raise the capability for R&D in companies operating in Qatar. Over time, we seek to position Qatar as a thriving hub for research, development, and innovation in the Middle East,” said Omar Ali al-Ansari, secretary general, QRDI Council.Milaha spokesperson said, "The TDG will accelerate Milaha’s innovation journey, enabling us to go beyond the incubation of ideas to the development of technologies and products that have the potential to revolutionise the maritime industry.”Karty LLC co-founder and CEO Mohammed Suleiman said: "The assistance from QRDI Council is invaluable, offering tangible and intangible support. Such support is critical for startups like KARTY as it helps us develop excellence to compete at the regional stage and globally.”Cytomate’s CEO, Hammad Saleh Hadeed said, "This is a significant milestone for our team, allowing us to dive deep into cybersecurity research with more resources. The application process for the TDG grant was clear and well-structured, ensuring a fair evaluation of our proposal. The QRDI Council team was helpful and communicative throughout, making the process a very smooth experience.”" This grant will help to significantly accelerate our journey towards innovations in the realm of the Industrial Internet of Things. As part of this initiative, our focus will be to substantially enhance safety and operational efficiency in Industrial environments. This opportunity enables us to broaden our technological horizons to enhance the safety of Industrial operations, not just in Qatar but globally,” Syook CEO Arjun Nagarajan added.