A number of Kuwaiti companies and entrepreneurs have signed partnership agreements with international companies in the environment, renewable energy, and life sciences sectors through National Technology Enterprises Company’s (NTEC) Global Bridge Initiative (GBI).

NTEC is a subsidiary of the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA).

The announcement was made during an event held recently by NTEC and attended by representatives from local companies, government institutions and officials from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin.

The event, which took place at the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, reviewed the achievements of the GBI program, since its launch in January 2011.

Anas Meerza, general manager for NTEC, said: “These partnerships were made because international companies were convinced that Kuwait is a promising market with local professionals capable of handling and transferring high technology. This will serve as a focal point for diversifying the national economy, transferring technologies to Kuwait, creating new jobs, in addition to attracting foreign capital and enticing investments.

“The GBI program is working at a high speed and has completed many activities and programs in only six months instead of 12 months, as was originally scheduled. This  success is a result of the effective interaction between various national partners and the demands of the local market for advanced technologies in sectors such as renewable energy and life sciences, as well as the ongoing collaboration between NTEC and UT at Austin,” added Meerza. 

NTEC also reported that it had also been very successful in attracting and transferring new technologies to Kuwait, achieving one of the major goals of the GBI program. To date, 18 new technologies from three different sectors related to life sciences, information systems and renewable energy have been introduced for the first time into Kuwait through the program.

The GBI team presented the 18 new technologies to participants, emphasising that the new innovations will be developed in Kuwait, ensuring that their development will be optimised to meet national and local needs and requirements.

The team also added that further progress would require the involvement of local investors and partners to develop and commercialise these new technologies, thus increasing investment and economic activities in Kuwait and creating new job opportunities in the economy.

Providing an update on training, the GBI team said that 24 Kuwaiti professionals have been trained through the GBI program during the past six months. Eight of these have completed their training at the University of Texas, at Austin, and 16 received advanced training in Kuwait. 

Paul Zukowski, vice-president of the University of Texas at Austin’s IC² and Global Commercialisation Group, a partner in the GBI program, said: “It is pleasing that NTEC has exceeded expectations and these are heartening results.  NTEC has been able to accomplish unprecedented achievements in record time, actively contributing to the success of the GBI program in Kuwait and the completion of its targets”.

During the meeting, Training Completion Certificates were distributed to all 16 trainees who participated in the training in Kuwait.  Trainees were from a number of government sectors including Kuwait University and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). – TradeArabia News Service