UK-based global major industrial technology group Rolls-Royce, and the Qatar State-led educational, scientific and community development agency, the Qatar Foundation, have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly invest in, develop, and scale-up technology businesses focused on addressing climate change and the issues it creates (‘climate-tech’ businesses, for short). These businesses would be based in both Qatar and the UK.

The two partners will develop a centre composed of two world-class campuses which will be global centres for climate-tech innovation. One campus will be in Qatar and the other in the North of England. Both will serve to launch, invest in, and grow businesses which can rapidly advance the global energy transition. This is because, in addressing climate change, technology alone will not be enough: what will be required will be real businesses, driven by technology, and at a scale that has real economic impact.  

“Today’s most pressing problems: climate change, soil restoration, water resources, animal welfare and human health are all inextricably linked,” pointed out Qatar Foundation Vice Chairperson and CEO Sheikha (roughly equivalent to Duchess in the UK peerage) Hind bint Hamad Al Thani. “We stand ready to work together with our partners Rolls-Royce in developing innovative solutions and clean energy technologies. The expansion [of Qatar Foundation flagship initiative] Education City’s research ecosystem will inevitably further Qatar Foundation’s mission to pave the way to a better future.”

“Rolls-Royce has pioneered power since its inception and we are already playing a key role in accelerating the energy transition in some of the hardest sectors to decarbonise,” highlighted Rolls-Royce CE Warren East. ”For us, the transition to net zero is both a societal imperative and an excellent commercial opportunity. This partnership with Qatar Foundation will enable us to accelerate progress in clean energy, including by allowing us to fully take advantage of nascent technologies that could have a significant impact on tackling climate change.”

The first phase of the project will be the creation of a virtual network, which will be launched next year. The actual physical campuses could be launched as soon as 2023. The Qatar Foundation will provide financial and other resources to create the campuses while Rolls-Royce will provide the research, engineering and high-end manufacturing support, as well as physical testing expertise; it will also use them to advance the development of emerging climate technologies. A further aim is to attract third-party investors to the campuses.

The Qatar Foundation will operate the campus in Qatar, which it is hoped will create up to 1 300 new high-value jobs in the Arabian country by 2040. The equivalent figure for the UK campus would be up to 1 000 such jobs, also by 2040. Further, it is hoped that the two campuses combined will see the companies established within them create some 10 000 climate-tech jobs over the same period.