Qatar and Italy Move Towards Solar Research Collaboration

Despite all the negative news out of Italy we have to remember that the boot is one of the world’s largest economies with a strong manufacturing sector.  With that manufacturing comes a driven research and development business culture that focuses on everything from wireless communications to solar energy.

Speaking of solar, watch for Qatar to integrate closer with the Korea of Europe, Italy (I say that because the countries have a lot in common, from geography to a boisterous temperament.  As The Peninsula’s Francesca Astorri reports, Francesco Profumo the president of the Italian National Council of Research (CNR), stated at a conference:

“We believe in investing in Qatar because the country is growing, it has a small dimension but a robust one, and it’s building a post-oil era future, that means investing in R&D . . . “Ten students per year will come from Italy to Qatar and now we hope to welcome Qatari students in Italy too in order to consolidate our relation. Now we are working on wireless telecommunications, but I see an interest also in environment, energy and infrastructure, so I hope to be able to start up projects also in these sectors."

The countries launched a graduate student exchange program and most likely the cooperation will accelerate. From water technologies to clean energy, Qatar is building itself as a model for how to build an economy during an era where resources are becoming more scarce and expensive.