Qatar plans to join forces with Rolls-Royce, a wholly owned subsidiary of Germany-based BMW, to invest billions of pounds in green engineering projects. Qatar is planning to establish a new science and engineering hub in the north of England for start-ups to research and develop clean projects. Rolls-Royce will make its manufacturing and laboratory resources available for the project.

It is hoped the investment will create 10,000 local jobs in the coming years and will focus on inventions in carbon capture and storage. The target of the new project is to create five unicorn companies (a privately held start-up company valued at more than $1bn) by 2030 and up to 20 by 2040. Feasibility studies are set to be completed by mid-2022, while Qatar and Rolls-Royce and reportedly seeking partnerships with local universities with an estimated start date of 2023.

It is expected a sister campus will be built in Qatar and that Rolls-Royce will take shares in some of the projects. Neither Rolls-Royce or the Qatar Foundation have released an official comment.