Jordan Times
Thursday, May 19, 2005
US grant to fund study
for setting up local technology innovation centre
By Melanie Jacobson
AMMAN — The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA)
awarded a $256,000 grant to the Ministry of Planning and International
Cooperation on Wednesday to fund a study on the feasibility of establishing a
local technology innovation centre.
The for-profit and privately -funded centre, called the Jordan Science and
Technology Incubator (JSTI), would assist in the “creation and commercialization
of emerging businesses” by managing innovative technologies to maturity,
according to a statement from the US embassy.
The JSTI would also provide entrepreneurial training and a multinational
technology hosting facility. Technologies to be “incubated” would draw from a
wide range of sectors, including information and communications technology,
agriculture, water, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and energy.
The grant advances the Jordanian government's efforts to develop and add value
to the ICT sector, said Planning and International Cooperation Minister Suhair
Al-Ali, who signed the agreement on behalf of the Jordanian government.
“This incubator will enable local ICT companies to compete better locally,
regionally and even internationally,” she told The Jordan Times.
On behalf of the Ministry of Planning, the IC2 Institute at the University of
Texas at Austin will conduct the feasibility study.
Carl Kress, USTDA's regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and
South Asia, said the grant represents a “great melding of public and private
resources.”
The USTDA works to accelerate economic development by promoting commercial
interests in developing and middle-income countries. This grant comes directly
from the USTDA and is not part of annual USAID assistance.
By “working with a country to identify and prioritize projects,” the USTDA
provides “country-driven” support, Kress told The Jordan Times. In this case,
the Ministry of Planning consulted the IC2 Institute about establishing the JSTI
before approaching the USTDA for assistance.
Home of the Austin Technology Incubator, the IC2 Institute is a centre for
technology commercialization and the founder of the Austin Software Council, a
business association, and the Capital Network, the largest non-profit capital
network in the US, which helps entrepreneurial ventures find investment capital.
“The USTDA funds various forms of technical assistance, feasibility studies,
training, orientation visits and business workshops that support the development
of a modern infrastructure and a fair and open trading environment,” according
to the embassy statement.
Past USTDA grants to Jordan's public and private sectors have funded feasibility
studies on wind-powered electricity generation, development of a communication
navigation surveillance and air traffic management system, liberalization of
fixed-line telecommunication services and construction, operation, and
management of a transit fiber-optic network.