Qatar plans to boost its innovation output by multiplying the number of patents by a factor of ten within the next five years in its quest to create a knowledge-based economy, a Qatar Research Development and Innovation Council (QRDI) official has said.“One of the main indicators of innovation is the number of patents per billion dollars of GDP,” Mohammed Al-Housani, Director of QRDI’s Research and Policy Support Department, told Qatar TV on Wednesday, highlighting the push to encourage native inventions.“Our ambition is to increase this metric tenfold by 2030,” he added.As such, it will be the latest jigsaw piece in the Gulf nation’s broader vision to become a “knowledge-based economy characterised by innovation”.While ambitious, the plan builds on years of quiet groundwork aimed not only at transformation from resource extraction to idea generation, but also one grounded on hatching companies with original research and globally competitive innovation.Simply put, obtaining a patent gives an inventor ownership over a new idea or product, barring anyone else from making, using or selling that invention without permission for a limited period. In line with the typical international law, Qatar marks it at 20 years.By the rules, new technology, invention, or a processes must be new, useful, and not something obvious for it to be eligible to be patented.More than anything, a patent serves as a formal certification of originality, often interchangbly used as a marker of genuine innovation.In Qatar’s context, that also means encouraging problem-solving, promoting a culture of merit-based recognition among the start-ups and local companies, according to Hamad Saleh Hadeed, co-founder of Qatar-hatched Cytomate.“The market is very vibrant. It is competitive and very advanced in terms of the tech and how you succeed in the market is by how good your projects and services are,” Hadeed told Doha News.Hadeed founded his AI-powered cybersecurity company alongside Dr. Muhammad Masoom Alam with early stage-support from the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), which entailed a “bold approach” of not defending against cyber attacks, but going on the front foot to test and expose vulnerability before they are exploited.Support from the likes of Qatar Development Bank and QRDI were pivotal in the journey, Hadeed added, which has seen the company file more than six patents so far, three of which have already passed the technical review process in the benchmarking U.S. patent. It typically takes three to five years for a patent to be granted.While organic local push, like QRDI’s Intellectual Property Clinics, “accelerate” inventions and patents, it also depends on how willing companies are to prioritize innovation from within.“We re-invested our revenues to get more,” Hadeed said. “Spend more on R&D, and you’ll get patents. It is that simple. But it takes commitment, especially in the early stages when returns aren’t immediate.” (ICE Doha)

Fonte notizia: DOHA NEWS