Local and regional business development
Economic Pillar

Local and regional business development

Objective: Enable local and regional businesses to become FIFA World Cup 2022™ suppliers and prioritise local and regional sourcing.

Rapid economic growth in the past two decades has given Qatar one of the highest levels of per capita income in the world, as well as high human development scores. The prosperity enjoyed by the country can largely be attributed to the booming oil and gas sector.


To sustain this economic prosperity and secure a high standard of living for all its people now and in the future, Qatar has placed economic diversification at the heart of its national vision and development strategy, with an ambition to transition to a knowledge-based economy.


Qatar specifically seeks to develop strategies and build workforce capacity to grow and foster innovation in priority sectors including manufacturing, logistics, financial services, tourism, information and communication technology, and scientific activities. It also seeks to promote entrepreneurship in priority sectors and enable small-to-medium-enterprise (SME) sector growth and competition.


Hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022™ presents Qatar with new opportunities to strengthen the structure and performance of its non-energy sectors and accelerate its transition to a more diversified economy. Specifically, the FIFA World Cup 2022™ is creating opportunities for domestic and regional enterprises in the construction, logistics, events, tourism, hospitality and sports-related industries to grow, form strategic alliances externally and connect to global value chains. It also presents opportunities for innovation in areas such as stadium cooling, energy efficiency, waste management, health and safety, public transport and information technologies.

Challenge 22

Continuing to run award cycles and to enhance the incubation phase for winning ideas in order to accelerate progress towards commercialisation and implementation of ideas for the FIFA World Cup 2022™.

See Progress here

QIC and innovation hub

Using the QIC and its innovation hub to enable collaboration between national and international organisations to identify innovative local sourcing solutions for products and services required for the preparation and staging of the FIFA World Cup 2022™.

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Promoting local sustainable suppliers

Developing a service to enable businesses to compete for contract opportunities linked to the tournament by matching buyers with potential local suppliers and facilitating access to focused business support through SME development initiatives in Qatar.

See Progress here