Faraj Jassim Abdullah
DOHA: The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has announced a major step toward realising Qatar’s Digital Agenda 2030 through its Scale Now Program, an initiative designed to accelerate the growth of technology startups and expand the country’s digital talent base.
According to the Director of the Digital Economy Department at MCIT, Faraj Jassim Abdullah, the programme aims to double the number of ICT jobs and ensure that 10 percent of the national workforce possesses advanced digital skills by the decade-end. The programme is expected to generate beyond 26,000 ICT sector jobs by 2030.
The Director explained that while the Scale Now Program is sector-agnostic, it focuses on four priority industries identified through market demand, including infrastructure, healthcare, logistics, and tourism. “The ‘Scale Now Program’ is sector agnostic, so we are not focusing on a specific sector,” Abdullah told The Peninsula.
“However, we do have four priority sectors, and they’re driven by the demand that we are anticipating from the market. The technologies could be AI, IoT, or machine learning.” Highlighting the programme’s selective approach, Abdullah noted that the ministry is targeting startups that have already gained traction and are ready to scale internationally.
He said, “At the end of the day, the programme is sector agnostic; however, the one metric that we focus on is that we need companies with proper attraction at the scale stage. We are looking at companies that are ready to grow and sell globally.” The Scale Now Program is directly aligned with Qatar’s broader digital transformation goals. “Two of our KPIs in the Digital Agenda are the number of jobs created in Qatar. We want to double the job opportunities in the ICT sector by 2030. Additionally, by 2030, we expect to have 10 percent of the workforce with advanced ICT skills,” he explained.
The Director also highlighted that the programme complements other major MCIT initiatives such as the Web Summit, Mobile World Congress, and World AI Summit, all hosted in collaboration with local and global stakeholders, which together aim to position Qatar as a leading technology hub in the region.
Encouraging local startups to seize the opportunity, the Director announced that applications are now open for the programme’s third cohort. Abdullah further added, “We have opened the door for applications for the third cohort, and we look forward to receiving applications from startups in the scale-up or growth phase.
“If you are a passionate founder, this is the right programme for you, and I would love to see brilliant founders around us.”
Through Scale Now, MCIT continues to strengthen Qatar’s innovation landscape, supporting entrepreneurs, creating jobs, and developing a skilled digital workforce to power the nation’s future economy.
