Qatar to invest billions in UK green technology site

Qatar plans to launch a fund to invest billions in new green engineering projects in the UK 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 $1bn – 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.