Carnegie Mellon University is internationally recognized as one of the leading institutions of research and higher education in Computer Science. In 2004, the university established a branch campus in Qatar with the goal of promoting the same high standards of research and education as its original campus in Pittsburgh, USA. Carnegie Mellon Qatar is located in Education City, a 2,500 acre campus which currently hosts branches of six of the world's leading universities. The campus provides state-of-the-art research and teaching facilities. Research support and collaboration opportunities with internationally-known researchers and world-class businesses are abundant. The Qatari leadership has made an unprecedented commitment of resources to position Qatar as a world-class center of education and research.

The Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) was established in 2006 to administer funding for original, competitively selected research in engineering and technology, physical and life sciences, medicine, humanities, social sciences and the arts.
QNRF play a vital role in the development of Qatar's knowledge-based economy: by providing financial support to researchers at all levels, from students to professionals, in the private, public and academic sectors, they seek to advance knowledge and education on a national, regional and international scale. Further, as part of their overall strategy QNRF aim to foster collaborations within academia and through public private partnership inside and outside of Qatar
Qatar Foundation envisions research as a catalyst for expanding and diversifying a country's economy; enhancing the education and well-being of its citizens and the training and development of its workforce. QNRF actively seeks internationally recognized researchers to study topics of regional and global importance; however it is primarily dedicated to funding research in the national interest and fostering improvements in the health, environment and security for the people of Qatar and the region.

The Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) is a home for technology-based companies from around the world, and an incubator of start-up enterprises. It provides premises, services and support programs that help organizations to develop and commercialize their technology. QSTP is a free-trade zone, making it easy and attractive to establish a technology-based company in Qatar. Members of QSTP include Cisco, ConocoPhillips, EADS, ExxonMobil, Gartner Lee, GE, iHorizons, Institut de Soudure, Microsoft, Q-CERT, Rolls-Royce, Shell, SMARD, and Total.

iHorizons is a Qatari software company, with offices throughout the region, specializing in the development of e-business applications and content management solutions. It is establishing a research and development subsidiary at the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) that will engineer applications in new markets such as bioinformatics, social web applications, virtual worlds, Arabic search technologies and corporate knowledge management tools. Its world-class clients include Al Jazeera Network, SAP AG, Schlumberger, ARAMCO, Qatar Petroleum and ASPIRE Academy. iHorizons is also pursuing joint projects with the computer science department of Carnegie Mellon Qatar.