DOHA, QATAR – Qatar Science & Technology Park and Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar held a reception at Carnegie Mellon announcing the start of the Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program for the 2009-2010 academic year. The reception gathered the new students, alumni and involved faculty of the CIEP program. Speakers at the reception included Bowman Heiden, Innovation Director at Qatar Science & Technology Park; Charles E. Thorpe, Ph.D., Dean of Carnegie Mellon Qatar; and Arthur A. Boni, Ph.D., Director, Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University.
"CIEP is a unique program, not only in the Middle East, but also globally. This year the real world will be our classroom as we combine education and practice by developing real innovations and ventures using leading research results gathered from QSTP's university partners at QF and abroad. This will be a learning experience for everyone involved as we look to develop the knowledge-based economy in Qatar through the creation of technology-based ventures," says Bowman Heiden, executive director of CIEP.
The program is a nine month, part-time certified executive program offered by Qatar Science & Technology Park with a faculty consisting of professors from Carnegie Mellon Qatar. CIEP is focused on creating both capable entrepreneurs and successful technology innovations and ventures. In order to facilitate this process, high-potential technologies from university and corporate partners have been recruited for the projects.
"At Carnegie Mellon, we have only completed part of our mission when we educate innovative students and generate ground-breaking research. The last step is turning those research results into products that change the way we live. The CIEP, with our partners at QSTP, gives people from the community the skills needed to turn great ideas into great companies," says Charles E. Thorpe, dean of Carnegie Mellon Qatar.
CIEP participants work together in teams on practical projects, to develop entrepreneurial capabilities for building technology-based innovations. Participants in the program can either work on specific innovation projects for their current company or build technology ventures based on technologies from idea providers, such as the universities at Education City – which is a new element this year. In collaboration with Education City's universities, the CIEP program organizers researched and selected relevant technologies to Qatar. This process generated approximately 200 project ideas, 20 of which were selected for consideration in the CIEP.
In addition to the Education City project list, this year the program has added a few new elements including an incubation focus working to evaluate real technology projects together with QSTP. The program has also introduced a mentoring program and increased collaboration with the local scientific community.
Forty-four students enrolled in the class, including 12 Qatari nationals. The remaining represent 12 other nationalities. Eleven of the students are women. The class represents a wide range of experience as the youngest student is 22 and the oldest, 50. The students come from diverse backgrounds such as oil and gas, medical and IT. Three of the students hold a Ph.D. and 13 hold masters degrees.
"You'll learn in nine months what you'd learn in your whole life; amongst many, it's how to identify the right ingredients and prepare the secret sauce of your venture." says Dr. Nizar Issa, Sales Manager of the Medical Equipment Division at NBKS Projects Promotion, a graduate of CIEP.
ABOUT CARNEGIE MELLON
With more than a century of academic excellence and distinguished research, Carnegie Mellon University is a leader in education with real-world applications. Consistently top ranked, the University has more than 10,000 students, 72,000 alumni and 4,000 faculty and staff globally. Core values of innovation, creativity, collaboration and problem solving provide the foundation for everything we do.
At the invitation of Qatar Foundation, Carnegie Mellon joined Education City in 2004. Here, Qatar Foundation created a unique center for scholarship and research that is the ideal complement to Carnegie Mellon's mission and vision. Students from Qatar and 30 different countries enroll at our world-class facilities in Education City. Carnegie Mellon Qatar offers undergraduate programs in business administration, computer science and information systems, as well as executive and corporate education. Learn more at qatar.cmu.edu.
ABOUT QSTP
Qatar Science & Technology Park, is a home for technology-based companies from around the world and an incubator for start-ups enterprises. Providing premises and services, QSTP's support programs help organisations develop and commercialise their technologies.
At the forefront of industry-university collaboration, QSTP is located in Qatar Foundation's Education City, alongside campuses of several leading universities. Its objective is to attract companies and entrepreneurs from around the world and to develop & commercialise their technology in Qatar.
Among our first proud members are EADS, ExxonMobil, GE, Microsoft, Shell and Total; bringing research and business together, while spurring the development of Qatar's knowledge economy.
