Qatar's Transition to Knowledge Based Economy: Policy Lessons from Singapore

Knowledge always have been the source for economic development, as the markets that performing well economically are those who use knowledge and its applications. Therefore Qatar devoted to spend 2.8 percent of its GDP on promoting development of knowledge economy and knowledge business. While Singapore has become the world’s third leading financial center according to the 2016 global financial index, the State of Qatar gained its independence in 1971, it was less likely for most people that Qatar today will be on the top 10 countries known for their highest GDP per capita on the world. Singapore on the other side gained its independence in 1965 and since then the Singapore’s state has been working on shifting towards knowledge economy. Eventually, Singapore succeeded in lifting up its constituency from poverty and relied on neighboring countries to prosper in three decades. The aim of this thesis is to explain the dynamics of Qatar’s KBE transition as different initiatives have been executed by Qatar to successfully set the stage for this transition. Moreover its aims to shed the light on Singapore’s successful experience in knowledge economy development and point out some lessons and policy recommendations to enrich Qatar’s experience.