(MENAFN- The Peninsula) ayeni olusegun |
The Peninsula
The University of Doha for Science and technology (UDST) kicked off its Research and Innovation yesterday with call for better collaboration between education institutes and industries.
The three-day event will see industry experts and stakeholders discuss important subjects surrounding innovation, research, and ways to solve them. Participants will also witness brilliant projects by UDST students. H E Dr. Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Naimi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, attended the event, among other guests.
The opening day of the programme also saw the inauguration of the Central Analysis Lab at the College of Engineering Technology. The new facility will support chemical analysis researchers at UDST and other industry stakeholders. The UDST Student Capstone Project competition was also held.
Speaking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the opening day, UDST President Dr. Salem Al Naemi said the institution selectively designed the research week to three sectors. One is how to build a relationship and partnership with the industry focusing on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Another part of the Research week will focus on the health segment, while the third aspect of the programme will include the competition for Arab youth. Almost 15 teams from the Arab world will participate in the contest.
“UDST is an applied university, and it's major goal and purpose is to link with the industry, with different sectors like oil and gas, financial sector, the tourism sector, and so on,” Al Naemi said.
“We are focusing on the health segment as we do much research here. So we're bringing the workforce from the health sector to show them what we can and are doing today and what we can do with them in the future to solve some of the problems that the health segment is facing.”
Al Naemi also noted the upcoming International Conference on Innovation Advances for Sustainability, which UDST will host from March 1-3.
“We have over 120 people from outside Qatar and a lot of participation from within the country. This is to show the world that UDST is an applied university. We want to play a major role in the economy and the evolution of technology and prepare our students to be job makers and not seekers.”
Meanwhile, a panel session which included Dr. Al Naimi, Dr. Mohammed Yousef Al Mulla, Managing Director and CEO of Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO), Dr. Hisham M Sabir, Executive Director, QNRF and UDST president Dr Al Naemi, stressed that the relationship between industry and the higher education institutions goes beyond research but also application.
“I think that without industry, we don't know our challenges. In Qatar, if we are thinking about achieving the 2030 goal, we have to be more concerned about the challenges that Qatar faces, particularly the industry in Qatar,” Dr. Al Naimi.
“So researchers at the university should be well connected to the industry, and the industry should be more open to the researchers or the academia than it is now.”