UPDATED: Qatar has teamed up with engineering giant Rolls-Royce to launch a fund pump priming billions of pound of investment into new green engineering projects.
The Gulf state is planning to build a new science and engineering campus in the north of England for start-ups to test and develop green technologies, such as carbon capture and storage, according to the Sunday Times.
The target is to create five “unicorn” companies — start-ups worth $1bn — by 2030 and up to 20 by 2040.
The fund will act like a venture capitalist, taking equity stakes in the projects, alongside venture capital firms and private equity.
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Rolls-Royce will take stakes in some too, as well as make its laboratory and manufacturing resources available to start-ups.
It is hoped that the campus alone – its actual location in the north of England has yet to be decided, although Newcastle is seen as a frontrunner – with create 1,000 direct jobs, with thousands of other jobs spinning off from it.
If the project goes ahead, the two partners would launch a feasibility study to find a site in England, most likely in the north-east or north-west. The study would be completed by the middle of next year.
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Although Qatar owns or has shares in iconic British brands and landmarks including Harrods, Barclays, Sainsbury’s and Canary Wharf, the fund will be run by the not-for-profit Qatar Foundation.
The deal was announced at the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow on Monday.
Further reading
Government offers £1.4bn match funding for foreign tech investment
