The State of Kuwait

IT Geographics

Technology Parks:

With Kuwait being such a small nation and the IT development only recently penetrating local commerce, the idea of a Technology Park only now seems to be regaining momentum after being an ignored reality for 15 years.

On the premise that it would help Kuwait’s economy, a steering committee was put in place recently by the Higher Planning Council and the feasibility study and resulting detailed plan has been submitted.

 

The following are the anticipated intentions of the Tech Park as sourced from the U.N.’s Network of Technology Parks and Technology Incubators in ESCWA member countries:

“Constitute an important reservoir of highly trained Kuwaiti human resources in various fields of S and T;

Facilitate technology transfer to local industries from both international and national S and T sources;

Develop a culture with distinct entrepreneurial traditions;

Maintain a well-established R and D infrastructure serving SMEs whose businesses depend on high technology.”

 

The following also are the cited possible problems surrounding the successful implementation in Kuwait:

“At present there is only minimal co-ordination among institutions engaged in S and T;

The national S and T strategy is in the process of being developed and cannot yet provide the necessary direction;

R and D efforts are quite often irrelevant to the needs of national development plans;

The few existing mechanisms for translating R and D results into commercial products are inadequate as a result of the weak linkages between R and D institutions and potential beneficiaries;

Current S and T efforts span a wide range of areas, incommensurate with the available resources;

The high turnover of R and D personnel reduces the chances of localizing results and expertise;

The local science culture is relatively weak, and there is a language barrier.”

 

It is interesting to note that with regards to Hardware Assembly and Software (of which most is pirated still), vendors have collected over the past few years along the Beirut Street plazas of the Hawalli neighborhood.   Although not really a tech park, we can yet see the collection of IT related entities in this respect.

 

 

Kuwait’s Incubators:

Under advice and consultations from the ESCWA, the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) and the Kuwait Small Project Development Company (KSPDC) started the Kuwait Technology Incubator (KTI) Project with the intention of assisting towards national development plans realizations. These include promoting national innovation, job creation and economic diversification.  Some of the top priority areas of interest are currently; Biotechnology; Petrochemical downstream industries; Water treatment and desalination; New materials (for packaging and construction); Information technology; Fishing industries; Environmental industries (treatment of petroleum-contaminated soil, water and the like); and Cooling industries.

Analysis:

National IT

Strengths &

Weaknesses

National ICT

Policies

Domestic IT

Market Size

Domestic IT

Production

IT Workforce

IT Geographics

IT Financing

Information

Policy

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