Al-Watan, Al-Raya Affirm Qatar's Steady Steps Towards Knowledge-Based Economy, Technology Localization

Doha, July 08 (QNA) - Al-Watan and Al-Raya newspapers affirmed in their editorials Thursday that out of its awareness of the importance of investing in modern technologies and its relentless pursuit of the transition to the knowledge economy, the State of Qatar launched TASMU platform aimed at harnessing advanced technology and innovation and providing smart solutions and applications in the five priority sectors: transportation, healthcare, logistics, environment, and sports. The two newspapers commended TASMU platform which is designed to enhance the collection and exchange of information, investment in the decision-making process, and future planning by linking and operating all sectors, smart solutions and digital services in Qatar to support sustainable economic diversification, address key national challenges, and support innovation, scientific and technical research, entrepreneurship and companies in the country. For its part, Al-Watan newspaper said in its editorial that under the patronage of HE Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al-Thani, HE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti officially inaugurated the digital platform (TASMU) that aims to harness advanced technology and innovation and provide smart solutions and applications in the five priority sectors: transportation, healthcare, logistics, environment, and sports. The paper expressed its certainty that TASMU platform, as explained by HE Minister of Transport and Communication, will form the beating heart of smart Qatar, which brings together government institutions and private companies operating in priority sectors to coordinate their efforts and unify their goals, to enable them to develop comprehensive solutions to provide all the services that users need in one place. Al-Watan explained that TASMU platform is based on cloud computing technology to provide services at the national level to all state institutions, the private sector and developers to store and analyze large data, and link it to a set of comprehensive technical solutions such as electronic payment systems, geographic information system, and weather and traffic monitoring systems, in addition to enabling these institutions to benefit from the capabilities of the fifth generation technology, the Internet of things, artificial intelligence, and others. The newspaper concluded its editorial by saying that the TASMU platform performs three very important functions, the first of which is to enhance direct communication between government institutions, companies and individuals working in various sectors and align their efforts, and the second is to provide modern technologies for workers in the public and private sectors, and the third is to store and analyze data at the national level and transforming it into informational summaries that provide an accurate and comprehensive reading, contributing to rationalizing the decision-making process and managing resources in all institutions in Qatar. For it part, Al-Raya newspaper underlined in its editorial that the State of Qatar has succeeded in strengthening its position on the innovation map and has become a strong competitor in the field of communications and information technology and ranks among the top ten countries in the world in the field of information technology adoption and telecommunications. The Qatari daily said that the State of Qatar occupied 21st globally on the Enabling Environment Index and 8th globally on ICT sector development index. The paper pointed out, that out of its realization of the importance of investing in modern technologies and its relentless pursuit of the transition to the knowledge-based economy, the State of Qatar launched TASMU Platform aimed at harnessing advanced technology and innovation and providing smart solutions and applications in the five priority sectors: transportation, healthcare, logistics, environment, and sports. Al-Raya added that the platform is designed to enhance the collection and exchange of information and its investment in the decision-making process, and future planning by linking and operating all sectors, smart solutions and digital services in Qatar to support sustainable economic diversification, address key national challenges, and support innovation, scientific and technical research, entrepreneurship and companies in the country. The newspaper said that the State of Qatar is always striving to adopt smart solutions that meet the requirements of the future and make it a stand-alone institutional approach. Since the beginning, Qatar has supported the adoption of technological and digital solutions, leading to a sustainable knowledge-based economy and has recently completed the preparation of Qatar Artificial Intelligence Strategy in cooperation with the Qatar Computing Research Institute, which is the first government strategy to be developed in collaboration with specialized research institutes to benefit from artificial intelligence within an institutional framework, the Qatari daily added. In conclusion, Al-Raya said that the State of Qatar seeks to transform its economy into a knowledge-based economy by localizing technology and making it accessible to everyone by creating an attractive environment for entrepreneurs who can take advantage of modern technologies and turn them into innovative products, solutions or services that contribute to Qatar's digital economy. (QNA)