California Mobility Center Signs MoU with Qatar Mobility Innovations Center to Promote Global Commercialization of Mobility Technologies

MoU facilitated by Qatar Embassy capitalizes on strengths, capabilities and opportunities to develop joint programs of mutual interest

At a Showcase event at the California Mobility Center (CMC) Ramp-up Factory (RUF) held last week in Sacramento, CA, the CMC announced it had just signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Qatar Mobility Innovations Center (QMIC), based in Doha, Qatar. The MoU allows the two entities to collaborate on initiatives and activities for promoting the development and commercialization of advanced mobility technologies and services. It also opens the door for the CMC and QMIC to explore further steps toward a definitive agreement to mutually support each other’s initiatives and to work collaboratively to meet shared goals.

“QMIC is one of the first technology innovations centers in the Middle East region using R&D to develop and deploy intelligent mobility and smart cities platforms and technologies,” CMC board chair Arlen Orchard told a live audience at its anniversary event on March 17th. “The MoU with the Qatar Mobility Innovations Center is exciting for us because it offers enormous potential for cross-collaboration that can lead to a high-value partnership between two leading innovation institutions in the fields of intelligent mobility and smart cities.”

The significant collaboration was facilitated by the Office of the Commercial Attaché, Embassy of the State of Qatar in Washington, D.C. as part of the Qatar Embassy’s efforts to establish technological partnerships between local Qatari and American entities that can facilitate exchange of information and expertise for mutual benefit. The MoU was signed during a virtual event attended by CMC chief operating officer Mark Rawson and Dr. Adnan Abu-Dayya, QMIC CEO & executive director, in the presence of representatives from the Qatar Embassy in the United States.

QMIC’s main goal is to use locally engineered innovations and knowledge to enable home-grown technology industries to address national and international strategies and tackle emerging challenges. Since 2009, QMIC has led in delivering digital platforms and technologies focusing on key domains including intelligent transport, logistics, road safety, and connected and autonomous mobility (CAM).

“We are very glad to partner with global institutions like the CMC that share our ambition and goal of building and deploying innovative mobility systems and services,” said Dr. Adnan Abu-Dayya, QMIC CEO & executive director. “The challenges we face are global in nature. Therefore, by leveraging the collective expertise between the CMC and QMIC, we can both strengthen and accelerate each other’s goals, contributions and impact.”

Orchard publicly announced the intercontinental partnership with QMIC in front of an audience of almost 400 industry leaders from around the globe, including early-stage company founders, C-level executives and governmental dignitaries who gathered at its Sacramento Ramp-up Factory to commemorate the CMC’s first anniversary. Also unveiled at the event was the Zeus Electric Chassis’ class 5 all-electric heavy duty commercial work truck, built to spec for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD). The truck is the first of its kind in the U.S. and marks the CMC’s first official commercial transaction between two members. SMUD purchased five of the electric service trucks with plans to decarbonize its entire 950 vehicle fleet and generating plants by 2030.

“The CMC brings companies together to advance mobility technologies, strategies and policies for the benefit of people globally,” Orchard said. “These collaborations bring about exceptional opportunities, establish open-sourced standards and evidenced-based policies, and generate applied research suitable for worldwide adoption of advanced mobility. It’s been our vision from the start that the CMC would emerge as a central source capable of attracting attention from all corners of the world.”

“Electric vehicles are the number one export in California, the world’s fifth largest economy,” said Barry Broome, CMC board member and president & CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council. “The CMC is capitalizing on the state’s leadership in mobility, helping it achieve its climate change goals, while building an inclusive workforce development model and regional economic engine. Partnerships like this with QMIC demonstrate the CMC’s value on a global scale, which will continue to grow as it enters the next phases of its build-out.”

The CMC is a public-private partnership of governmental and non-governmental entities, leading universities and colleges, electric utilities, technology and automotive companies, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists, governed by a board of directors comprised of some of the most highly successful leaders in the future mobility space.

“We are grateful to the staff of the Embassy of Qatar in the U.S. for facilitating this partnership that will surely fast track our work together to the benefit of the future mobility industry around the globe,” Abu-Dayya added.

Source: California Mobility Center media announcement