Faisal Al Suwaidi, President of Research and Development at Qatar Foundation (second right), shakes hands with Professor Philip S Khoury, Associate Provost of MIT after signing the agreement yesterday. Dr Ahmed El Magarmid (right), Executive Director of QCRI, and Professor Daniela Rus, Director of MIT CSAIL, are also seen. Kammutty V P
DOHA: Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), yesterday collaborated for a seven year joint research program initiative.
The announcement was made following a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the Joint Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum and Arab Expatriate Scientists Network 2012.
Faisal Alsuwaidi, President of Research and Development at QF, Dr Ahmed Elmagarmid, Executive Director of QCRI, Professor Philip S Khoury, Associate Provost of MIT, and Professor Daniela Rus, Director of MIT CSAIL representing their institutions at the announcement and signing ceremony at the Qatar National Convention Centre.
“This collaboration with MIT represents a significant collaboration for Qatar Foundation and one that will have a positive impact on the research, technological, and economic development of Qatar,” said Alsuwaidi.
Referring to the Qatar National Research Strategy (QNRS), he said, “The agreement represents a major step in bringing Qatar closer to creating the productive research environment necessary to achieve our vision to be an international center for research and development, excellence, and innovation.”
Under the agreement, QCRI and CSAIL scientists will undertake and co-lead multidisciplinary core computer science research projects, with the two organizations sharing resulting intellectual property (IP) rights. The programme, named the Computer Science Research Programme, will be a medium for knowledge transfer and the exchange of expertise, as well as a platform to engage and train young researchers who are helping to build Qatar’s research capacity.
Scientists at QCRI will benefit from the expertise of MIT’s eminent faculty through joint research projects that will enable QCRI to realise its vision to become a center of computing research internationally and a recognized global leader in Arabic language technologies. The joint projects will align with core areas identified in QNRS for computer sciences and ICT, including distributed systems, data analytics, social computing, and Arabic language technologies. In just under two years, QCRI has built expertise focused on data management challenges, Arabic language content enrichment, and social computing complexities that address needs in Qatar and the region. The program with MIT will help further develop these areas of expertise in order for QCRI to make an impact globally.
“The Computer Science Research Program provides an exciting and momentous opportunity for CSAIL to form a new international collaboration, through which we can make great advances in the field of computing and participate in new research projects that will have an impact far beyond MIT. We look forward to developing and nurturing a mutually beneficial relationship with QCRI far into the future,” said Professor Daniela Rus.
The Peninsula
