Microsoft deepens investment in Qatar with opening of new office

Microsoft has expanded its operations in Qatar with the opening of a new Lusail City facility, the company’s fourth and largest in the country. It is part of a significant investment in Qatar which includes the soon to be launched Microsoft cloud data centre region.

Mohammed bin Ali Al-Mannai, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, and high-ranking representatives of the US Embassy in Qatar attended the official opening to commemorate the formal launch of the office in Burj Al Fardan, Lusail City.

The facility includes a customer innovation centre that will host innovation and ideation workshops aimed at inspiring groundbreaking solutions that spur transformation across industries in Qatar. The office will play a vital role as an innovation hub for technology startups, students, and community organisations from across Qatar, a statement said.

Additionally, it will act as a regional talent base for the business, supporting the country and the larger Microsoft Middle East cluster area. The facility’s work will aid the business’s efforts to develop, retain, and attract talent for solution-building.

“Microsoft has been deeply rooted in Qatar and our commitment to help grow Qatar’s innovation economy has never been stronger,” said Lana Khalaf, general manager at Microsoft Qatar. “With the launch of our new offices and our Customer Innovation Center, customers and partners will have the opportunity to co-innovate, ideate and envision ground breaking solutions that will revolutionise their industries”

“In designing the new office, we were guided by two main principles. The first was our determination to provide the best workplace for our employees, offering a highly engaging, inclusive, and flexible environment that leverages the latest modern work technologies to create future proof smart workspaces. The second was sustainability, to deliver the first office to be certified on the highest sustainability standards in the Middle East. I am extremely proud to say that we delivered on both of those objectives – while prioritising the focus on customers with our customer innovation centre,” Khalaf added.

In 2020, Microsoft announced ambitious commitments to become carbon negative by 2030 and remove more carbon from the environment than it has emitted since its founding by 2050. In line with these sustainability goals, this new facility is fitted with the latest green technologies to drive energy and water efficiency and is the company’s first office in the Middle East to reach Level 1 on Microsoft’s Global Sustainability Standard.

The premises have also achieved a C-Grade Global Microsoft Accessibility Standard for extending equal opportunities for all employees to access their workspaces with features such as easily accessible parking spaces, automatic doors, room signs with Braille, and audible and visible alarm systems.