Indian technical talent helps drive Qatar’s deep-tech startup ecosystem

Qatar's burgeoning innovation landscape is cultivating a thriving ecosystem for cross-border technology transfer and international entrepreneurial talent, according to Arfaz Khan, founder and CTO of ARVIS, a deep-tech startup based in Qatar. Khan attributes this growth to the country's advanced digital infrastructure and structured incubation programs that enable international founders to set up deep-tech ventures on the ground rather than exporting talent elsewhere.

Speaking to Gulf Times, Khan elaborated on how Qatar's interconnected digital environment fosters a foundation for additional technological layers, allowing startups to leverage this infrastructure and develop solutions that can understand, predict, or enhance various systems.

Established at the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP), ARVIS was founded by Khan, along with co-founders Afnaz Khan and Muhammed Naseef. This team comprises electronics engineering and product design professionals from India, who developed Adaptive Building Intelligence (ABI), an operational advisor for complex physical facilities.

ABI integrates seamlessly with existing Building Management Systems (BMS), heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) infrastructure, and environmental sensors to gather daily performance data. Khan, who grew up in Saudi Arabia, pursued his engineering education in India and spent considerable time in Kerala, noted that Qatar's ecosystem uniquely combines technical engineering expertise with practical infrastructure deployment.

Khan observed that the contrast between South Asian markets and Qatar highlights Qatar's advantage in terms of a highly sensorized real estate sector, which is beneficial for emerging deep-tech companies. He pointed out that while Kerala lacks the same level of connected building infrastructure and systems like BMS, Qatar offers a rich environment where sophisticated systems operate in large buildings.

As a product designer, Khan became intrigued by the inner workings of these systems, leading to the inception of ARVIS. Khan emphasized that the collaboration between international technical talent and Qatari incubation hubs underscores how local institutional support transforms global engineering skills into domestic technological assets.

He highlighted that access to real-world operational data through QSTP and its broader network allows deep-tech and infrastructure-tech startups to refine their ideas and scale them effectively.