Expert Voices Series in California

Program Overview & Recap

Introduction
The Qatar-America Institute (QAI) recently launched a new program: the Expert Voices Series.
The series is envisioned as a medium for encouraging broader and more diverse conversations
between Qatari experts or experts on Qatar with U.S.-based leaders in business, academia and
politics.

In an effort to diversify outreach beyond the traditional East Coast hubs of Washington, D.C. and
New York, QAI sought to initiate new channels of engagement with the key West Coast hubs of
San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Why California?

With a population of 39.5 million and a GDP of $2.7 trillion – the fifth largest economy in the world
– California (CA) was QAI’s natural choice for a first foray to the West Coast. The state boasts
some of the world’s premier academic institutions and science labs, as well as America’s motion
picture industry (Hollywood).

Silicon Valley in the CA Bay Area is the global capital for hi-tech innovation and entrepreneurship;
the co-location of a critical mass of venture capital investors and a talent pool of unparalleled depth
and quality has produced some of the world’s most valuable companies. California’s industrial
origins in defense and aerospace remain integral to the state’s research and development (R&D)
nexus and economic export composition.

Dr. Khalid Al-Ali – Qatari Tech Entrepreneur and Former NASA Specialist

The first participant in QAI’s Expert Voices Series was Dr. Khalid Al-Ali, a
Qatari technology entrepreneur and Co-Founder and Executive Chairman
of Senseta, a Silicon Valley-based data analytics firm.

In the field of aeronautics and exploration technology, Dr. Al-Ali spent

10 years in NASA’s Ames Research Center and Jet Propulsion
Laboratories. Dr. Al-Ali was also the CEO of the Qatar Science and
Technology Park (QSTP), Qatar’s premier business “free zone” dedicated
to the development of market-ready tech products

Having earned his PhD at UC Berkeley and worked at NASA and DARPA-administered labs, Dr.
Al-Ali has made California his second home both professionally and personally. He is uniquely
well positioned to provide a nuanced outlook of promising and fertile areas of collaboration
between Qatari entities and the State of California.

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 Expert Voices Series in California
Program Overview & Recap

California Engagements

Stanford University

The “anchor event” for QAI’s West Coast outreach was

Stanford University’s inaugural MENA Forum, a joint
initiative of the Arab Student Association at Stanford
(ASAS) and the MENA Club of the Stanford Graduate
School of Business.

Dr. Al-Ali featured as a speaker on a panel, “Technology

Trends in Emerging Markets,” at the MENA Forum.

As the CEO of a tech firm, which has created knowledge-intensive jobs in both Silicon Valley and
Doha, Dr. Al-Ali spoke about Qatar’s commitment to increasing its percentage GDP contribution
to R&D and the creation of an “ecosystem for the development of market-ready tech products
from lab to market.”

On the panel, Dr. Al-Ali spoke about his experience leading the
complex negotiations that brought two of the six U.S. universities
that have established full degree-granting campuses in Doha’s
Education City. With his appointment as the first CEO of QSTP, he
spoke of the vision to “capture the intellectual property from the
academic institutions and providing a finance bridge from QSTP
to create value from knowledge.”

Dr. Al-Ali spoke of his leadership role on national steering committees that have shaped Qatar’s
technology policy and articulated Qatar’s vision of integrating its industry with the research and
higher education infrastructure that it has been investing massive resources to develop.

Hoover Institution

On the sidelines of the Stanford MENA Forum, Dr. Al-

Ali held meetings with Research Fellows at the Hoover
Institution, a leading West Coast research organization, to
discuss potential partnerships between Hoover Fellows and
research institutes in Qatar, such as the Qatar Computing
Research Institute (QCRI) and the Qatari Energy and
Environment Institute (QEERI).

At the Hoover Institution, we met with Andrew Grotto, the

William J. Perry International Security Fellow at the Center
for International Security and Cooperation

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 Expert Voices Series in California
Program Overview & Recap

Mr. Grotto was the Senior Director for Cybersecurity Policy at the White House in both the Obama
and Trump Administrations. His portfolio spanned a range of cyber policy issues, including
defense of the financial services, energy, communications, transportation, health care, electoral
infrastructure, and other vital critical infrastructure sectors

Cybersecurity frameworks have gained new significance in Qatar due to the way the blockade
was initiated (a cyber breach of the Qatar News Agency). Mr. Grotto is looking for ways to partner
with the Middle East on a new Tech and Internet Research Institute at Hoover. Leading scholars,
such as world-renowned political scientist Francis Fukuyama, are involved in the planning of this
Institute.

As Doha takes steps to strengthen its cybersecurity governance frameworks, QAI believes that
QCRI – part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) – would be the appropriate stakeholder
in Doha to advance this promising area of collaboration. This collaboration can have capacity-
building benefits for the security apparatus in Doha that are working to minimize exposure to
cyber threats.

Freeman Spogli Institute for International Affairs

Similar consultations were held with Distinguished Fellows at the Freeman Spogli Institute for
International Affairs, with a specific focus on food security and energy markets.

• Professor Frank Wolak

Frank A. Wolak is the Holbrook Working Professor of Commodity Price Studies in the Department
of Economics at Stanford University.

He currently directs the Program on Energy and

Sustainable Development (PESD). QAI provided Dr.
Wolak with an overview of sustainability efforts in Qatar,
including research at the Qatar Energy and Environment
Research Institute (QEERI). The SC’s efforts to make the
FIFA World Cup 2022 the first carbon-neutral edition of
the tournament were discussed in some detail.

QAI believes that Stanford’s PESD can be an ideal partner in consolidating the gains of Kahramaa’s
Tarsheed campaign to rationalize electricity and water consumption by the residents of Qatar.
PESD can also benefit the SC’s T22 campaign to raise awareness in schools in Qatar of the
environmental impact of excessive electricity and water consumption. QAI can also provide
Challenge 22 with a conduit to Stanford’s top-notch capacity in climate adaptation research.

• Ambassador Ertharin Cousin

Ertharin Cousin is the Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International
Studies and Distinguised Fellow at the Center on Food Security and the Environment.

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 Expert Voices Series in California
Program Overview & Recap

In 2009, Cousin was nominated by President Obama and confirmed

by the Senate as the US ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and
Agriculture in Rome. In this role Cousin served as the US representative
for all food, agriculture, and nutrition related issues. She led the World
Food Programme, the World’s largest humanitarian agency in the world.

Ambassador Cousin is currently being funded by Stanford and the

Rockefeller Foundation for a landmark Food Systems of the Future
(FSF) project, which is a major landscaping of global food security
system failures and a comprehensive roadmap for what government,
business and civil society can do to address food security pain points.

QAI believes that Qatar has the opportunity and political will to become a leader in unconventional
agriculture solutions that can serve not only domestic market needs but help feed a world
population that is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050. Ambassador Cousin is seeking a partner
that can help mobilize funding behind an investment vehicle dedicated to long-term investments
in food systems. Several candidates come to mind as potential stakeholders in Qatar: the Global
Dry Land Alliance, MoFA’s Qatar Fund for Development, Qatar Free Zones Authority and Qatar
Financial Center. QAI is currently mapping out interest in these organizations to examine the
potential for taking first-mover advantage in the FSF initiative. We believe the idea is in line with
Qatar’s economic diversification agenda.

City of San Francisco – Mayor’s Office

• Mark Chandler, Director, San Francisco Mayor’s Office of International Trade and Commerce

Tourism is one of the largest employers in San Francisco,

with many surrounding businesses benefiting from
tourist arrivals in this sector. Qatar has recently unveiled
a revamp of its tourism strategy, with conference tourism
at the center of a push to attract 5 million visitors by 2023
and 7 million by 2030. The FIFA World Cup in 2022 that
Qatar will host will alone attract 1.5 million visitors. Qatar
has invested heavily in building the region’s leading
convention and exhibition facilities.

Perhaps the potential for partnering on sports is a natural fit as

the U.S. will be hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The SC is
concerned not just with the world’s most popular sport, but also
with securing a sound social and environmental legacy for the
tournament.

The Mayor’s Office is a strategic player in the city and they have
expressed an openness for collaboration with Qatar should the
need arise.

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 Expert Voices Series in California
Program Overview & Recap

The University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA)

UCLA’s Center for Middle East Development (CMED)

hosted QAI and Dr. Al-Ali at the university’s Faculty Club
for discussions that will reinforce UCLA’s already deep ties
with Qatar. CMED is UCLA’s dedicated center for Middle
East expertise and, for more than ten years, has partnered
with Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to host an annual
conference in Qatar under the banner of “Enriching the
Economic Future of the Middle East.” CMED and QAI will
work closely to build on those ties to forge connections
between Doha and UCLA.

The conference has become an important calendar event for MENA experts across the world,
and we shared thoughts on how this strategic partnership can be further elevated.

RAND Corporation Santa Monica

At the RAND Corporation’s Santa Monica headquarters, Dr.

Al-Ali gave remarks on “Qatar’s Economic Diversification and
Tech/Innovation Policy” to a select group of researchers,
followed by an engaging Q&A session under Chatham House
rules. He highlighted the nexus approach of linking Qatar’s
universities with government-backed funding mechanisms,
such as Qatar Development Bank (QDB) and QSTP. He
emphasized that enabling the private sector through access
to credit and business incubators will facilitate the creation of small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) that will help Qatar diversify its economy away from hydrocarbons.

Though the RAND Corporation no longer maintains an

office in Doha, it remains an important strategic partner to
many Qatari institutions who rely on RAND for research and
advisory support. For instance, RAND recently completed
a review of Qatar’s approach to foreign aid.

The Milken Institute

• Michael Klowden, CEO

The Milken Institute is a strategically important organization on the West Coast. The Institute
combines research and policy in an annual Global Conference held in LA that gathers the most
important names in global finance and economics. The Milken Institute has previously sought the
State of Qatar as a strategic partner and sponsor for its Global Conference. Those efforts have
been unsuccessful as Qatari stakeholders did not follow up.

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 Expert Voices Series in California
Program Overview & Recap

The door to cooperate with the Milken Institute remains open.

However, the UAE has brought the Institute’s regional conference
to Abu Dhabi. This should not prevent Qatar – perhaps through the
Ministry of Finance or Commerce and Industry – to engage with the
Milken Institute.

Larta Institute

• Rohit Shukla, CEO

• Carlos Guiterrez, Chief Strategy Officer

The Larta Institute, led by CEO Rohit Shukla,

defines itself as providing a “mesh network” of
mentorship resources, expertise, funding and
connections to patient capital. In that sense, Larta
is an Institute and not in the mold of traditional Bay
Area “accelerators” that tend to be a source of
one-time funding, office space for a limited time,
and a scattered feedback loop.

Larta recognizes the fiercely competitive space of emerging technology start-ups and instead
seeks to support nascent tech companies in every step of their lab to market transition. This
starts with pairing companies with Principal Advisors who are experienced practitioners in
both academia and industry. Larta is organized around the four pillars of Feed, Fuel, Heal and
Innovation, with long-standing partnerships with the federal research funding arms of the National
Institute of Health, Department of Energy and United States Department of Agriculture.

QAI and Dr. Ali had a very positive meeting with the Larta
leadership. QAI expressed enthusiasm for converging some of
Larta’s internationally renowned experience with Qatar’s efforts to
cultivate its own organic “mesh network” of business enablers. This
will help advance the Qatar National Vision 2030, which prioritizes
economic diversification and human capital development.

The Pacific Council on International Policy

The Pacific Council is the West Coast’s premier member-based public diplomacy institute. It has
hosted sitting U.S. Secretaries of State, Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives,
former presidents, and the list could go on.

The Pacific Council – originally a part of the University of Southern California – hosted a lunch
in their LA headquarters in honor of Dr. Khalid Al-Ali. The lunch was well attended by Pacific
Council members who hail from diverse industries: financial services, aviation, law enforcement,
defense, academia and literature.

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 Expert Voices Series in California
Program Overview & Recap

Dr. Al-Ali offered some remarks on Qatar’s journey

from seeking partners in the 1960s to finance
and provide the technology for a world-leading
LNG industry, to its current investment-led boom
in human capital development and a sovereign
wealth fund with a global and diversified portfolio
of assets. Under Chatham House rules, Dr. Al-Ali
fielded many thought-provoking questions about
Qatar’s role in international affairs, its sporting
ambitions and engagement with the U.S.

The Office of Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

• Jim Lazarus, State Director

Senator Dianne Feinstein currently serves as the senior United States

Senator from California. She took office on November 4, 1992 and
has been re-elected five times since. A member of the Democratic
Party, Feinstein was Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988.

Dr. Al-Ali had a meeting with Jim Lazarus, the State Director for Senator
Feinstein’s office, to discuss various ways in which Qatar could forge
new partnerships with the State of California in the areas of trade,
tech, and agricultural/food security. The meeting also provided Mr.
Lazarus with some useful updates on Qatar, from recent economic
advances to the 2022 World Cup.

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 Expert Voices Series in California
Program Overview & Recap

Creating a Lasting Impact

Following the visits to San Francisco and Los Angeles, QAI has produced several products
that will propel the Expert Voices Series within California and across the country:

“Qatar in California” Fact Sheet

QAI produced a fact sheet
detailing the relationship between
Qatar and California economically,
educationally, culturally, and
through military partnerships.

A Robust Network
QAI has laid the groundwork
of a strong West Coast
network of academics,
entrepreneurs, innovators,
and influencers in their field.

Dedicated Webpage
QAI created a webpage that hosts content on the California-Qatar
partnership, as well as information on QAI’s efforts there and
updates on future events on the West Coast.

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 Expert Voices Series in California
Program Overview & Recap

Taking Forward the California Relationship

Having established a program presence in the state, QAI will keep the
Qatar-California relationship alive and flourishing through:

• Dedicated Network Management

QAI will manage and expand its California contact database.

• Liga Networking Events

QAI will be able to partner with other organizations to host networking

events, expanding on the cultural, economic, business and political
links.

• Cultural Discussions and Exhibitions

QAI will be able to partner with other organizations to have cultural

discussions, expert voice events, exhibitions and demonstrating
Qatar’s unique culture, this will include work for the 2021 U.S.-Qatar
Year of Culture.

• Newsletter to the California Network

QAI will have a dedicated quarterly newsletter to California contacts

which will include updated factsheets, events and other opportunities.

• Further Cooperation and Coordination

QAI will work with other Q-institutions and organizations to help

coordinate activity, ensure greater efficiencies and to create unique
platforms for other events.

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