University-Industry-Government partnership: A state of Qatar transformation to a knowledge-based economy case study

The state of Qatar envisions its economy in the year 2030 to be a knowledge-based economy. As such, it has committed huge financial resources to reform education in an effort to stimulate innovation in the state. Prior research has suggested that university-industry collaborations stimulate innovation in developed nations. This study aims to explore the university--industry--government (UIG) partnership in the state of Qatar and how such partnerships contribute to the innovation process in the state. Based on perspectives from a total of 31 participants from (a) Qatar University, (b) three Oil and Gas industry organizations and (c) three government and semi government institutions in the state of Qatar, the findings show that the selected Oil and gas organizations involved in the UIG partnership are indeed taking initial steps to stimulate and deepen linkages with Qatar University. Leadership, both in terms of policy and financial commitment, is an important enabling factor for promoting linkages. While the results demonstrate that none of the organizations have established a designated organizational function to manage their partnerships, Qatar University has undertaken efforts to foster and institutionalize linkages with the industry via the incorporation of industry linkages into its strategic plans. Industry organizations, on the other hand, are not at the same level of commitment at this stage. As organizations in the state of Qatar continue to work towards building stronger linkages in their university-industry-government partnerships, the researcher anticipates that all stakeholders will recognize the efforts demonstrated so far, and use the findings and recommendations of this study to inform their actions to support the efforts undertaken to date and possible future efforts.