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Ailyn Agonia
Doha
A MASTER'S programme in engineering is being developed in Sweden that will give Qatari young professionals and students an opportunity to further their studies in the Scandinavian country.
According to Swedish Ambassador to Qatar HE Ewa Polano, the new tailor-made programme will give Qatari youth an opportunity to experience the world-renowned Swedish education through interaction with Swedish universities and internship with top engineering companies in Sweden.
"What is important in this new programme is that besides receiving education at top ranking KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm or at Chalmers University of Technology located in Gothenburg, they will also have interaction with the Swedish private sector. It is important that they have an internship to learn how top engineering companies in Sweden work," the ambassador told Qatar Tribune on the sidelines of a conference on entrepreneurship which opened at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) College of Islamic Studies on Tuesday.
The ambassador underscored the importance of such a programme as Qatar continuously works towards diversifying its economy. She said while the new programme is still being developed one of the critical points that will be decided later on is the manner of selection of young professionals and students from Qatar who shall avail the programme. A jury together with Qatar University (QU) or HBKU is likely to be formed for the selection process, the ambassador added.
The Swedish envoy also mentioned the keenness of Sweden to work together with Qatar to tap the buying power of consumers in the emerging economies of Asia. Specifically, the Swedish Embassy in Doha is planning to work closely with the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) to reach out to markets in India, China, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia.
"Stockholm is now the number two region in the world after Silicon Valley for startups. Aside from that we are very strong in financial technology next to London. We can see a lot of healthcare startups in Sweden which can be placed in Qatar and be further developed so we can offer to markets in Asia,"said the ambassador.
During her pre-panel keynote talk at the conference, the ambassador shared the journey of Sweden from being known in forestry and iron ore to developing a strong economy based on innovation and entrepreneurship. She also mentioned the ongoing collaborations between Sweden and some Qatari institutions such as Qatar Business Incubation Center (QBIC) to establish Qatar as regional hub for nuts export.
Furthermore, she mentioned their collaboration with top cyber security experts from HBKU and the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) for seminars on ICT, startups, innovation and entrepreneurship and the embassy's good relationship with Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCU-Q) and Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q).
A top leadership of the Qatar Development Bank (QDB) has also expressed strong interest to visit Sweden, according to the ambassador.
"Qatar is a fantastic country with a strong leadership. The country has an excellent education system with so many universities making it an intellectual hub of the region. It has attracted researchers from all over the world who are now developing the country together with the Qatari society. I see a paradigm shift in focus from oil and gas to a diversified economy and knowledge-based economy and I think Sweden and Qatar can do this together," said the ambassador.
