Qatar to Invest Billions in U.K. Green Technology Site

(Bloomberg) --

Qatar plans to launch a fund to invest billions in new green engineering projects in the U.K. in partnership with Rolls-Royce, according to a report in the Sunday Times newspaper.

The Middle Eastern state is planning to build a science and engineering campus in the north of England that would host green technology startup companies, the report said.   

Rolls-Royce will make its laboratory and manufacturing resources available to the startups and take shares in some of the projects. 

The fund aims to create five “unicorn” companies — startups worth $1 billion — by 2030 and up to 20 by 2040.

Feasibility studies are to be completed by mid-2022, the paper said, citing a person close to the project. Newcastle is a front-runner to host the project but the location is far from being decided, the newspaper said, citing anonymous people.

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