Despite its vast intellectual and academic capital, Lebanon still falls behind developed countries in terms of research. Its gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) in 2013 was approximately 0.22 percent, which is below the regional average of 0.3 percent, and almost eight times less than the one of the UK.

However, this might be changing.

The UK Lebanon Tech Hub (UKLTH) announced the launch of an International Research Center (IRC), and already deployed 3.2 million dollars to fund applied research projects.

Based on a research they conducted a year ago, they’ve identified three sectors in Lebanon’s knowledge economy that are worthy of investment: fintech, wellbeing, and visualization.

In this video, UKLTH director Nadim Zaazaa, and IRC director Elie Akhras, discuss the strategic ‘whys’ behind their endeavor, and the main challenges facing the IRC today.