QSTP and Carnegie Mellon kick off Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program 2009-2010

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.

Bowman Heiden, Executive Director of CIEP, addressed the new class.

"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."

The program is a nine month, part-time certified executive program offered by Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) 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," said Charles E. Thorpe, Dean of Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

The 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.

There are 44 students enrolled in the class, including 12 Qatari nationals with the remaining representing 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.

Dr. Nizar Issa, Sales Manager of the Medical Equipment Division at NBKS Projects Promotion, completed the CIEP program: "You'll learn in 9 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."