Qatar is set to join forces with Rolls Royce to launch a fund worth billions in investments in green engineering projects with a focus on an engineering hub in the UK with the potential for 10,000 jobs, The Sunday Times reported.
The UK broadsheet quoted sources close to the project reporting that a new science and engineering campus in the north of England would be built by the Middle Eastern state for start-ups to test and develop green technologies.
The target is to create five “unicorn” companies, start-ups worth $1 billion, by 2030 and up to 20 by 2040.
A sister campus would be built in Qatar. The project will be one of the largest inward investments by a foreign state to the UK and the ST suggested an announcement could be made at the COP26 summit.
It is believed talks on the project have been underway for the best part of a year and venture capitalists and private equity firms are involved.
The article also stated that both Qatar and RR are also in talks with British universities to get involved in the project with a projected date of opening for 2023 and 1,000 jobs.