Entrepreneurship and Innovation as Drivers of Growth in Qatar

Alignment with Qatar's National Research Priorities

The Qatar National Vision 2030 aims to transform the nation into a developed society capable of achieving sustainable growth. Its planned growth objectives are grouped under four key pillars, with the majority of national efforts for boosting and fostering business activity falling under Pillar I (human development) and Pillar III (economic development). Ambitious educational policies and a countrywide effort to achieve economic diversification, combined, unsurprisingly place entrepreneurs at the center of the national vision.

This research proposal is positively and directly aligned with that vision, as it attempts to determine how innovation and entrepreneurship affect the nation's growth. The chief research goal is exploring Qatar's innovation and entrepreneurship climate, including the barriers to innovation encountered and the incubators that could be implemented to improve the present situation. This is consistent with Qatari national research goals, and the findings could potentially contribute to improving governmental innovation and entrepreneurship programs, with particular emphasis on incubator centers.

The following priority subjects are covered by the University's research roadmap: (i) Population, Wellness and Health; (ii) Environment, Energy and Resource Sustainability; (iii) Identity and Social Change; and (iv) ICT (Information, Communication and Technologies) (University, 2013). This planned research aims to ascertain how innovation and entrepreneurship will help create jobs and bring about economic growth, which is consistent with all the aforementioned roadmap themes, as the study impacts each of them both directly and indirectly.

Background and Literature Survey

With Arab nations' continued limited job-creation capacity and reduced ability to absorb new labor market entrants, entrepreneurship as part of an employment-creation toolkit is attracting increased focus. Internationally, small-to-mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs are largely regarded as crucial to national economies, particularly because they create more jobs overall compared to larger employers. SMEs make up 80–90% of all formal North African and Middle Eastern businesses (Momani, 2017; Burns, 2016).

Studies confirm the broad observation that the entrepreneurship field may be a key employment creator (Audretsch, Belitski, and Desai, 2015). Entrepreneurial activities certainly create a number of new jobs in the short run; however, more importantly, American and European evidence reveals that ineffective businesses may be replaced through competition arising from new corporations. Unemployment resulting from failing incumbent companies and failed startup businesses is balanced by employment generation during the early years of a new company's life, leading to long-term net job growth in the economy overall.

Despite the growing social recognition of SMEs and entrepreneurs' significance as potential job creators, the public sector in Arab nations continues to be the biggest employer. The public sector has traditionally absorbed excess labor — especially the growing population of university graduates — and continues to account for 60–80% of Gulf countries' overall formal employment (Momani, 2017).

Research Objectives and Significance

The study pursues the following objectives:

• Examine innovation and entrepreneurship's role in improving Qatar's economic performance
• Ascertain the status of Qatar's innovation and entrepreneurship sectors
• Study the nation's innovation and entrepreneurship climate
• Analyze the share of jobs generated each year through innovation and entrepreneurship

Innovation and entrepreneurship's role in economic development forms part of a nation's broader economic system. A review of policies from around the world, and especially from Arab nations, reveals strikingly consistent attention to related economic and societal challenges, and a coherent rationale for innovation and entrepreneurship policy. This study is therefore pivotal to ensuring the actualization and maximization of innovation and entrepreneurship's potential advantages as an economic driver.