IDAL INNOVATION CLUSTER Strategy for an innovation cluster development in Beirut 30 August 2019 Contents 1- Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 4 2- Market study ......................................................................................................................................... 4 2.1- GDP and GDP per capita ................................................................................................................. 4 2.2- Lebanese debt, revenues and expenditures .................................................................................. 5 2.3- Foreign direct investment .............................................................................................................. 6 2.4- Trade balance ................................................................................................................................. 7 2.5- Lebanese population ...................................................................................................................... 8 2.6- Unemployment and emigration ..................................................................................................... 8 2.7- Future plans of the Lebanese government .................................................................................. 10 2.8- Competitive advantages ............................................................................................................... 11 2.8.1- Lebanon competitive advantages .......................................................................................... 11 2.8.2- Beirut competitive advantages .............................................................................................. 14 3- Benchmarking analysis/ case studies ................................................................................................. 15 Beirut Digital District ........................................................................................................................... 16 Berytech ............................................................................................................................................... 18 Knowledge And Innovation Center ..................................................................................................... 20 Dubai Internet City .............................................................................................................................. 22 Dubai Silicon Oasis ............................................................................................................................... 24 Dubai Technopark ................................................................................................................................ 26 DuBiotech ............................................................................................................................................. 28 Qatar sciences and technology park ................................................................................................... 30 King Hussein business park ................................................................................................................. 32 Information technology and communication complex ...................................................................... 34 Smart Villages ...................................................................................................................................... 36 Casablanca Technopark ....................................................................................................................... 38 Rabat Technopolis ............................................................................................................................... 40 Technopark Istanbul ............................................................................................................................ 42 ODTÜ Teknokent .................................................................................................................................. 44 Gav-Yam Negev Park ........................................................................................................................... 46 Matam Park .......................................................................................................................................... 48 Bar-Lev High Tech Park ........................................................................................................................ 50 Inovallée ............................................................................................................................................... 52 Singapore-Sichuan Hi-Tech Innovation Park ....................................................................................... 54 Silicon Fen ............................................................................................................................................ 56 Silicon Docks ........................................................................................................................................ 58 3.1- Lessons Learned ............................................................................................................................ 60 3.2- Competitive landscape ................................................................................................................. 66 4- Stakeholders consultation findings .................................................................................................... 70 4.1- Sectors ........................................................................................................................................... 76 4.1.1- Sectors filtering ...................................................................................................................... 76 4.1.2- Sectors evaluation across the different Lebanese governorate ........................................... 83 4.1.3- Sectors overview .................................................................................................................... 85 4.1.4- Prospect tenants .................................................................................................................. 100 5- Concept and recommendations ....................................................................................................... 102 5.1- Foundation .................................................................................................................................. 102 5.2- Pillars ........................................................................................................................................... 102 5.2.1- Scale ...................................................................................................................................... 102 5.2.2- Tenants ................................................................................................................................. 103 5.2.3- Hard infrastructure .............................................................................................................. 103 5.2.4- Soft infrastructure ................................................................................................................ 104 5.2.5- Urban development ............................................................................................................. 105 5.2.6- Privileges .............................................................................................................................. 105 5.3- The marketing concept ............................................................................................................... 108 5.3.1- Appeal to tenants ................................................................................................................. 108 5.3.2- The technological theme ...................................................................................................... 109 5.3.3- Creative theme ..................................................................................................................... 109 5.4- Operating model ......................................................................................................................... 111 5.5- Legal and regulatory framework ................................................................................................ 118 1- Introduction Under the Technical Assistance Facility program funded by the European Union to the Government of Lebanon, IDAL is working in partnership with Crown Agents and OMSAR to launch a Digital Innovation Cluster project. This project will follow international standards and will act as a platform of collaboration between the government, the private sector and academics. The aim of the project is to attract investments to Lebanon by providing local, regional and international companies an appropriate professional atmosphere. This could be done by enhancing the available infrastructure (data& telco and utilities), by improving laws and by providing economic incentives to the companies working in this cluster. A two-phased approach will be used for the development of the plan. The first phase will be a concept ideation in order to develop the project’s concept and the different sectors targeted by this project. The second phase will be a financial feasibility for the cluster. 2- Market study 2.1- GDP and GDP per capita Before 2010 Lebanon’s GDP growth exceeded the global