FEATURE

E-commerce: ‘Starting to scratch the surface’

NEWS

QSTP builds experts network

Doorstep recycling for Al Khor?

ExxonMobil spotlights LNG cooling water

QSTP buildings near opening

Al Bayan named Microsoft Innovative School

Talking the (tech) talk

A CLOSER LOOK

iHorizons links with biotech scientists

Proof of Concept Fund links lab to marketplace

As QSTP nears its opening later this year it is starting to assemble a network of experts—people who can provide business and technology advice to its start-up companies.

“What we’re trying to do is maximise the knowledge available to the science park and its incubatees” explains Des Ryan, QSTP’s business support manager.  “Clearly the best way of doing this is to build a global family of experts who we can call on when required.”

QSTP is looking for professionals spanning different countries, technologies and job functions.  They would provide advice and assistance to help grow Qatar’s tech start-ups, and review technical and business proposals.  Compensation will be available in appropriate situations.

As a further step, QSTP will appoint a handful of experts from the network on a contract basis, to provide a higher level of one-to-one support under its coming mentoring program.

“The ‘Gurus Wanted’ sign is up, and I’m looking forward to seeing some great CVs,” says Ryan.  For more information please contact dryan@qstp.org.qa.

'Reduce’, ‘reuse’ and ‘recycle’ are about to become buzzwords at the Al Khor Housing Community as Gartner Lee Limited kicks off its first community-based recycling programme in the region.

Drawing on over 30 years of expertise in solid waste management, Gartner Lee has recommended steps for implementing a sustainable recycling programme at the Al Khor Housing Community, which is home to primarily Qatargas and RasGas employees.

The Canadian environmental strategies and solutions company, which is a QSTP member, has proposed a waste audit for the Al Khor Housing Community that  will determine the composition of residents’ waste and how much of it can be recycled. This data will help Gartner Lee to design the operational aspects of collection including selection of a collection contractor, system design, and specification of containers.

To support uptake of the recycling principles on a grassroots level, Gartner Lee will also initiate a public awareness campaign to promote the ‘3 Rs’ (reduce, reuse and recycle) amongst the community’s 5,500 residents. The campaign will also encourage composting options, which is a way of reducing the volume of land-fill from kitchen and garden waste.

With recycling seen as a practical way people can contribute to environmental management, Gartner Lee is hopeful that this pioneering project will be a model for other housing communities and ultimately establish Qatar as a recycling champion in the Middle East.

ExxonMobil Research Qatar is helping to predict the movement of residual chlorine in cooling water discharged from Qatar’s LNG industry.

Scientists traveled out into the coastal waters off Qatar late last year, to collect seawater samples as part of ExxonMobil’s QR 7 million study of residual chlorine in cooling water discharged from Ras Laffan Industrial City. To gauge marine patterns, field researchers also measured seawater temperature, currents and salinity at hundreds of testing stations from the Ras Laffan shoreline to approximately 15 kilometers offshore.

ExxonMobil Research Qatar’s Lead Environmental Researcher, Ade Adenekan, says the residual chlorine project is contributing to the advancement of environmental science and management in Qatar.

“The data generated from the marine survey is now being analysed and used to design a new computer model of marine hydrodynamics and solute transport in Qatar’s coastal waters. Once the model is calibrated and verified it will be a useful tool to help more efficiently monitor for any environmental impact of the country’s expanding LNG industry.

ExxonMobil’s Ade Adenekan, EMRQ Environmental Research Lead, at a laboratory extractor used for studying organics in the environment.

A milestone in Qatar’s knowledge economy is about to be reached.  ‘Phase One’ of QSTP’s building programme is nearing completion, and its first tenants will soon gain access to their premises at the science park.

In September several fit-outs will commence in the Innovation & Technology Transfer Centres, where companies are establishing offices, labs and training centres of 1000 to 1500 m2. The first tenants include EADS, ExxonMobil, Q-CERT, Shell and Total.

For entrepreneurs and small-to-medium companies, QSTP’s Emerging Technology Centre will open at the end of 2007. Comprising fully furnished offices and business facilities, the centre is an ’incubator’ where Qatar’s research efforts will be translated into successful new enterprises.  Microsoft will be among its first tenants. Design of GE’s research and training building, due 2009, is also underway.

Altogether 45,000 m2 of research-friendly premises is under construction at QSTP. The science park will be among the most impressive in the world, with $300m being invested in its physical infrastructure.

The first QSTP tenants will start fitting-out their offices, labs and training centres at the science park this September

Shadi Eideh speaks about his job with a sense of mission.  As the Senior Manager of e-channels at Qatar National Bank (QNB), he oversees the development and delivery of electronic services.  “We are a key player in the country and we had better do a good job” he says.

Eideh says the Bank’s push into e-services has been driven by two factors.  One is that QNB is the national bank and it needs to provide those services; the other is that the blazing growth of Qatar’s economy has led customers to demand such services.

On the back of these motives QNB has implemented a number of electronic services, including Internet banking, cards for online purchases, and e-payment of utilities and mobile phone bills.

It is early days though. "E-commerce in Qatar is at the very initial phases,” explains Khaled Tawfik, Enterprise Development Manager at the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQatar).

Consumers not producers

Although no stranger to e-commerce, Qatar—and in fact the whole region—is “just starting to scratch the surface,” says Mohammed Takriti, Chief Executive Officer of iHorizons, a Qatari Web applications firm which is establishing a research and development subsidiary at QSTP.  

Takriti notes, however, that the e-commerce sector in the region is small and mainly depends largely on outside vendors.  “In e-commerce we are consumers rather than producers.  We use eBay, Amazon.com and online stock traders.  But we hardly have any serious service providers in the region.”

Websites resembling Yahoo and Amazon.com have cropped up in the region, such as portals Masrawy.com and Arabia.com and online bookseller Nile & Euphrates (www.neelwafurat.com). With rare exceptions online ventures in the region have largely been either short-lived or never reached the break-even point.  And those which survived on their own are, in Takriti’s words, not very well developed.

The relative infancy of online services is not the only reason why regional e-commerce is still at the starting blocks.  QNB’s Eideh says the e-commerce sector needs four wheels to run on: online service providers; financial payment processing institutions; technical and legal infrastructure; and finally the customer. He adds that progress has been slower in regards to service provider development and legal infrastructure compared to the other ‘wheels’.

On that Takriti concurs.  He says that banks in Qatar have been very creative in rolling out electronic services that support e-commerce, while on the technical infrastructure side Qatar actually commands a leading position in the region.  There is good availability and affordability of hardware and support for both the home and office, he says.

Bullet-proof legislation
As Qatar's economy continues to thrive the number of people prepared to engage in e-commerce transactions is likely to increase, making well-developed legislation a necessity, said the experts. Eideh cited “bullet-proof legislations” that clearly “define the rights and responsibilities of the parties involved in online transactions.” 

Some of these issues, according to iHorizons’ CEO, are: How courts enforce contracts signed online (via email); whether emails are legally binding in online transactions; stealing e-commerce sites (also known as “phishing”); what kinds of e-commerce are allowed and what are not; and how taxation is determined among countries that have different taxation codes, particularly in the Arab world.

Laws and regulations for e-commerce are a focus of ictQatar and Tawfik says his institution is now working on laws that address the challenges raised by e-commerce.  These include electronic transactions, digital signatures, electronic payments, data encryption, privacy and data protection, software protection, piracy and e-government, according to ictQatar’s website. 

While drafting laws and regulations that are supportive of the evolution of e-commerce in Qatar is necessary, they only make up part of the picture.  If service providers are to be profitable, stresses Takriti, they need to cater for audiences in the whole Arab world or the GCC, not a single country. 

The challenge will be for the region’s countries to develop compatible and streamlined legislation that tackles cross-border issues, such as enforcing online contracts and taxation. Given some countries, particularly in the Gulf, have small populations, consistent legislation across the region is central to encouraging local service providers to compete for a wider Arab audience.

E-commerce literacy

The experts pointed out that public awareness needs to be raised about the benefits of e-commerce. Both QNB and iHorizons executives agree on the importance of communicating the gains from e-commerce to the larger population – and part of ictQatar’s mandate is to do just that.

E-commerce uptake will involve government and companies raising the level of computer literacy and access in Qatar.  QNB and iHorizons have initiated programmes to do this among their customers, while ictQatar is committed to IT literacy and ‘broadband for all’.

Takriti adds that recent reforms to Qatar’s education system, combined with the large proportion of young people here with advanced computer skills, will help open the door to e-commerce in Qatar even further.

Guests at QSTP’s March TECHtalk saw first hand that social media—blogs, podcasts and wikis—aren't passing fads but the marketing tools of the 21st century, shaping what consumers think, who they trust, and what they buy.  

Generating debate, stimulating ideas and connecting people that are shaping Qatar’s knowledge economy is what the recently launched QSTP TECHtalks are all about.

Guests have heard about the not-so-obvious path to success from Arabian tech entrepreneur Khaldoon Tabaza, and in March Hill & Knowlton’s Andrew Bone talked about the impact of bloggers on corporate reputations. 

Key to the success of the TECHtalks has been the relaxed atmosphere, with formal speeches and slide-show presentations being left at the door.  The talks are a place to be entertained and meet Qatar’s business and technology innovators.

You can check coming talks and sign-up for alerts by visiting the TECHtalks website.

 Andrew Bone at the March QSTP TECHtalk, which looked at social media’s growing influence on Qatar companies