The Chairman of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority, H E Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, inaugurating the Innovate Qatar 2013 exhibition at Doha Exhibition Centre, yesterday. (Salim Matramkot)
DOHA: The first edition of Innovate Qatar, the nation’s first dedicated new technology and innovations exhibition, opened at the Doha Exhibition Centre (DEC) yesterday.
The Chairman of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority, H E Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, inaugurated the exhibition, attended by representatives from the industry and the public sector.
“Innovate Qatar is still in its infancy but already we see tremendous interest in this multi-industry innovation-focused exhibition. Next year, we hope to invite all government institutions to exhibit their innovations at Innovate Qatar,” said Attiyah.
Rinal Chaaban, Exhibitions Manager, said, “We truly believe that a platform like this can propel Qatar to become a destination for innovations — both homegrown and imported.
“Qatar is aiming to achieve numerous large-scale projects in the coming years, and utilising innovations to set a global standard in every industry is essential for the nation,” he said.
The Innovate Qatar Showcasing Area opens today at 4pm and features speakers talking about their latest innovation concepts, prototypes, and products.
Featuring experts from Qatar University, Qatar Green Building Council, Qatar Plastic Products, Global Innovations Conference, and Global Trade Links, the showcasing area promises to display concrete examples of innovation research being undertaken in Qatar or relevant to Qatar.
International and local experts will also deliver talks at the iQ Lectures which start at 6pm, to be hosted by Khalifa Haroon — Co-Founder of ILoveQatar.net.
Among the topics are ‘Inventions, Innovations and the Long Way to Reach the Market’, ‘Intro to Intellectual Property’, ‘Innovation in Design: Making the Invisible Visible’ and ‘Innovating without Fear’.
“Our aim with the showcasing area and iQ lectures is to bring to the fore voices that have not been heard too much around the speaking circuit in Qatar. We are aiming to showcase tangible concepts that will open up the audience’s perspective as to what is being done in Qatar and what opportunities lie ahead,” said Chaaban.
Nearly 40 exhibitors are featured at the expo, including Qatar University, the QU Centre for Advanced Materials, College of the North Atlantic Qatar, Qatar Green Building Council, iHorizons, Al Emadi Hospital, Qatar Skills Academy, Cedar White Bradley, German Business Council and Red Bull.
RedBull has put up a memorable showcase of a game used to be played a long time ago in Qatar — Dahrooj — involving a stick and a wheel. Red Bull has set up a life- size circuit for visitors to play in and experience the roots of sports innovation.
An Entrepreneurship Zone which features some of Qatar’s budding entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators has been set up by ILoveQatar.net.
The expo is open until tomorrow from 3pm to 9pm at the DEC.
The Peninsula
