Qatar is building an education, science and technology infrastructure at record speed — but not without friction, reports Waleed Al-Shobakky | SciDev.Net
Qatar is experiencing a near revolution in science aimed at catapulting the oil-wealthy emirate into the 21st century.
Last November, Qatar’s emir, Hammad bin Khalifa Al-Thani pledged to allocate 2.8 per cent of Qatar’s gross domestic product (GDP) to science research.
The pledge signifies a serious, long-term commitment to science of about US$1.5 billion a year — highly unusual in a region where science and research budgets are almost non-existent.
