Research and Development

Chapter Overview

1. Executive Summary

This chapter begins with the preceding chapter’s conclusion: a state seeking technological sovereignty cannot simply buy systems or import knowledge, because it needs a lasting ability to understand problems, test hypotheses, produce evidence, adapt and improve technology, and train the next generation. Research and development is the engine that turns human capital into accumulated knowledge and knowledge into sovereign, economic and institutional options.

Iraq does not start from a research vacuum. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research manages universities, research centres and units across medical, engineering, natural science, agricultural and humanities disciplines. In July 2026, the moratorium on establishing research centres and units in public universities was lifted to support applied research and development solutions. In 2025, the Ministry also launched a three-year agreement with Clarivate to analyse national scientific output and build researchers’ capacities in publishing, funding management and innovation. ^{5 6}

The financial baseline, however, shows that the scale of activity does not yet amount to a well-resourced R&D system. The World Bank database, drawing on UNESCO data, gives Iraq’s latest published R&D expenditure as 0.04% of GDP in 2021. This relatively old value, affected by an updating gap, may not accurately represent current actual expenditure across all ministries and universities, so it must not be presented as a 2026 figure. It does, however, reveal the urgent need for a national survey consistent with the Frascati Manual, identifying who spends, on what, who performs the research and with which funding source. ^{3 19}

Scientific production presents a different picture: the international scientific and technical articles series records 16,724 articles for Iraq in 2023, following substantial growth over earlier years. In 2025, the Ministry of Higher Education reported that Iraqi output indexed in global databases had approached a cumulative 185 thousand papers. The Iraqi university ranking also assigned “scientific research effectiveness” 35% of the assessment weight for 103 institutions in its 2025 edition, while Iraqi representation in Times Higher Education rose to 32 universities in the 2027 ranking. These are gains in volume and presence, but alone they do not answer: how good is the research? How much is reused? How much solved a problem? How much became a standard, technology, contract or policy? ^{4 7 8 9}

In intellectual property, WIPO records 569 patent applications by Iraqi resident applicants in 2024: 556 domestic applications and 13 abroad, alongside five international applications through the PCT. This demonstrates inventive activity capable of protection, but does not reveal the share converted into licensing, products, production or state savings. The Vision therefore proposes moving measurement from “paper and patent counts” to an outcomes chain beginning with quality and reaching use. ¹⁵

The solution is not to create a new body for every problem. An existing legal and institutional framework covers the Ministry of Higher Education, the Scientific Research Authority, the Research and Development Department, universities and centres. This framework underwent legislative amendments in 2024, followed by constitutional rulings published in 2025, obliging any new funding or administrative design to review the law in force before implementation. The Vision builds on what exists: national governance of priorities and measurement, competitive funding within a clear legal framework, differentiated research universities, highly used shared facilities, researcher career paths, and joint contracts with industry and ministries. ¹³

By 2045, Iraq should have an R&D system able to repeat a clear cycle: national problem or market opportunity → research question → qualified team → data and laboratory → rigorously reviewed funding → reproducible implementation → outputs protected or open according to their nature → user or problem-owning entity → field testing → adoption or learning from failure → funding for the next round. Every missing link turns research into an activity detached from development.

2. The Bridge from Technological Sovereignty to Knowledge Production

The preceding chapter established that technological sovereignty is selective: Iraq need not manufacture every component, but needs knowledge, an understanding of dependencies, alternatives and rights that keep critical functions sustainable. This definition creates direct demand for research and development. How do we know what can be imported and what must be understood locally? How do we adapt an irrigation system, treatment or algorithm to Iraq’s environment? And how do we create an alternative when no ready-made solution exists? These are not procurement functions; they are R&D functions.

The connection also matters economically. Part Four developed the logic of a productive economy that does not live on oil-driven demand alone, while Part Five developed human capital. Research and development bridges them: it raises company productivity, reduces state costs, improves specifications, opens up new products, and turns universities from institutions that only award degrees into institutions producing knowledge and capability. But it cannot succeed if treated as an appendage to academic publishing or as expenditure beyond evaluation.

3. The Central Question and the Chapter’s Scope

Central question: what funding, institutional, university and human system does Iraq need between 2027 and 2045 to turn research from fragmented activity whose value is often measured by publication into a national capability producing high-quality knowledge, solving state and industrial problems, and generating cumulative technologies, rights and decisions?

• The chapter does not revisit general education reform or vocational training; it receives researchers and skills from them as inputs.

• It does not pre-empt the start-up, venture capital and incubator system; that belongs to the next chapter.

• It does not prescribe a national laboratory or equipment procurement list before inventorying use, demand and lifecycle costs.

• It does not make university rankings an end in themselves; it uses them only as external signals, while national measurement focuses on quality, capability and use.

• It does not set a numerical target for patents alone; a patent is a protection instrument within a broader knowledge-transfer pathway.

4. Definitions and Measurement Rules

5. The Institutional and Legal Framework: Building on What Exists

Iraq has an established scientific research framework within the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, comprising the Research and Development Department, universities, research centres and units. The Ministry lists a wide range of specialised centres in water, energy, the environment, medicine, materials, nanotechnology, the humanities and other fields. Law No. 17 of 2024, the ninth amendment to the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Law, was enacted in 2024. In 2025, Federal Supreme Court rulings in case 207/Federal/2024 declaring provisions of the amendment unconstitutional were published. The Vision’s practical decision is that no new funding body or contracting power should be built on an unverified legal text: the operative law must be reviewed at implementation and any gap addressed legislatively if necessary. ^{11 12 13}

Industrial property also has a framework through the amended Patent and Industrial Designs Law No. 65 of 1970, with the competent department of the Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control administering patent registration. This legal system enables invention protection, but the R&D system must connect it to ownership contracts among universities, researchers and funders, and to economic and technical assessment pathways for licensing and transfer. ¹⁴

6. The Iraqi Baseline: Growing Outputs and a Gap in Measuring Capability

Table 1: Concise research baseline. Sources ³ to ¹⁵.

The most important gap is not the absence of numbers but their inconsistency. Expenditure is measured across different years and institutions, publishing across different databases, and patents through legal applications that may never become products. Reform therefore begins with a national R&D vocabulary, not a goal of “more research”.

As for geographical and disciplinary disparities, the verifiable open sources do not provide a unified national dashboard linking researchers, expenditure, laboratories, publications, contracts and patents to governorate, university and discipline. A list of centres across several governorates establishes institutional distribution, but not balanced capability. This is recorded as a mandatory data gap for the 2027 survey. ¹²

7. The Real Problem: Research Activity Still Needs an Outcomes System

The indicators show expanding activity: more articles, more universities in rankings, existing centres and publication incentives. The problem is that the system’s links are still not measured together. Publishing can rise while researchers lack protected time or reliable laboratories; a patent can be registered without an adopter; a research centre can be established without recurring funding or equipment use; and a ministry can have a problem without a contract that turns it into a research question.

The problem should therefore not be framed as “weakness of the Iraqi researcher”. More accurately, incentives, funding, infrastructure, career paths and user demand remain distributed across pathways that do not always meet in one project. The Ministry’s 2025 decision to award four million dinars for Q1 research is a clear incentive for bibliometric quality. Alone, however, it may direct behaviour towards what is published internationally more than what is used locally. Scientific quality rewards should be retained, while adding separate pathways for mission research, industrial contracts, open data, prototypes and government adoption. ⁶

8. Research Funding: From Fragmented Allocations to a National Portfolio

Good funding does not mean a single percentage distributed equally. Basic research needs stability and scientific freedom; applied research needs a user and a problem; experimental development needs equipment, prototypes, testing and greater risk tolerance. The Vision therefore proposes a funding portfolio rather than a single-model fund.

In 2025, the Ministry of Higher Education formally discussed research funding prospects and priorities and recommended developing the funding system and called for a national fund. The Vision treats this signal as a design opportunity, not automatic authorisation to establish an independent fund. The final institutional choice must follow the law in force: the instrument could be a statutory fund, a funding programme within an existing authority, or a combination, provided the priority setter, reviewer, beneficiary and auditor are clearly separated. ²²

9. Competitive Funding and Peer Review: Quality before Connections

Not every research dinar requires competition; core funding for a laboratory or university differs from a grant. But grants claiming to produce new knowledge must meet minimum requirements for independence, conflict-of-interest controls and transparency. The system begins with an announced call, eligibility, criteria, peer review, a reasoned decision, a contract, staged disbursement, monitoring and final evaluation.

External institutional review is used when a project exceeds a financial threshold or is highly specialised or sensitive. Reviewers must not assess projects involving recent collaboration, a supervisory relationship or a financial interest. Acceptance rates, decision times and funding distribution by field, region, gender and career stage are published without disclosing confidential proposal information.

10. Research Universities: Differentiating Functions, Not Making Everyone Identical

It is neither realistic nor useful for every Iraqi university to have the same research function. Some institutions should focus more on undergraduate education, regional access and professions; some should combine applied education and research; and a limited group can sustain greater intensity in postgraduate studies, laboratories, international grants and national facilities. In the Vision, a “research university” is a funded and measured function, not a permanent title.

The first cohort should be selected after an audit running from 2027 to 2029, based on research quality rather than counts alone: researchers with substantial dedicated time, strong doctoral programmes, laboratory infrastructure, competitive research income, international cooperation, applied outcomes, integrity and grant management. The designation should be reviewed every five years; institutions can enter or leave as performance changes.

11. Shared Research Centres and Infrastructure: Use before Creation

Lifting the moratorium on establishing research centres and units in 2026 opens an important window, but also raises the risk of organisational expansion before demand is established. The chapter therefore proposes an establishment gate: a problem or field not covered by existing infrastructure, a critical mass of researchers, a five-year funding plan, a laboratory/data, users and indicators. If the need is only for equipment or a laboratory service, a shared facility is preferable to a new administrative centre. ¹¹

High-cost equipment should be managed as a Core Facility: a national register, electronic booking, transparent pricing for external use, equipment engineers and technicians, maintenance and service contracts, calibration, and operating hours. The “utilisation rate” becomes mandatory before another institution buys a duplicate.

12. The Researcher and the Career Path: Time, Independence and Return

An R&D system cannot deliver if researchers are measured by publications but lack time, grant administration, laboratory technicians or a postdoctoral pathway. The Vision builds a career chain: doctoral student → postdoctoral researcher → independent researcher/academic → group leader → programme/facility director, with a parallel technical pathway for technicians and laboratory engineers so that administrative promotion is not the only route to advancement.

The brain-drain chapter established that the aim is not to force Iraqis to return. Here, that conclusion becomes research instruments: temporary return fellowships, joint appointments, visiting professors, joint supervision, remote data access and grants for Iraqi–diaspora teams. The state measures hours and outcomes of cooperation, not the number of memoranda of understanding.

13. Linking Research to the State and Industry: A Problem Owner before a Project Begins

Connection does not mean that a ministry predetermines the research result. It means that applied research has a “problem owner” who helps define the need, provides data or a test site, and accepts or rejects the output against a pre-agreed criterion. In industry, the company is a client or partner; in the state, it may be a ministry, governorate, regulator or public company.

The TÜBİTAK 1505 programme offers a useful mechanism: a private company as “client”, a university or research centre as “implementer”, a cooperation contract, funding and monitoring, and evaluation that goes beyond novelty to ask about conversion into economic and national benefit. Iraq should not copy the programme literally, but should transfer three principles: a real client, co-funding and an applicable result. ¹⁷

14. Innovation and Technology Transfer Centres: The Bridge between Laboratory and User

An “innovation centre” is not an events office. In this chapter it is a translation interface: it screens research results, supports proof of concept, manages intellectual property and contracts, seeks a user, and determines whether licensing, a service contract, a standard, government adoption or a new company is the best pathway. New companies themselves are addressed in the next chapter.

A separate technology transfer office should not be imposed on every college. Professional regional or university units should be established according to scale, and a shared unit can serve several smaller universities. The measure is transactions, contracts, licences, applications and negotiation time, not the number of offices.

15. Intellectual Property and Invention: Protection Is a Means, Not an Outcome

Iraq records tangible patent-application activity, but the 2045 policy rejects turning application counts into a race. Some knowledge should be published, some kept as a trade secret, and some patents do not justify the cost of protection outside Iraq. Decisions require assessment before filing: novelty, freedom to operate, market, partner, protection costs and likelihood of use. ¹⁵

Universities should standardise contractual intellectual-property rules: researcher rights, university shares, funder rights, student rights, delayed publication, data, software and confidentiality. Ambiguity must not obstruct industrial cooperation or deprive researchers of their rights. A support window for PCT and foreign patent applications should be reserved for cases with a justified use plan or market.

16. National Research Missions: Focus without Closing Off Scientific Curiosity

A resource-constrained system cannot fund every field with equal intensity. Part of the funding is therefore allocated to national missions, while part remains for open basic research so that the state does not confine science to today’s problems. Missions should be reviewed every three years against data and implementation capacity.

Each mission needs a programme board including a researcher, user, regulator and private sector where appropriate, a gap map, a portfolio of small, medium and large projects, and a stop decision. A mission must not become a permanent centre if the need changes.

17. Data and Open Science: Knowledge Is Public unless There Is a Case for Restriction

Publicly funded research creates assets beyond papers: data, code, protocols, materials, measurements, maps and models. Value is lost if these remain on a researcher’s computer or disappear when the team ends. The Vision therefore adopts an “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” policy consistent with UNESCO’s Recommendation on Open Science: repositories, persistent identifiers, FAIR data principles and clear licences, with exceptions for security, privacy and commercial ownership. ²⁰

Digital libraries and national subscriptions complement access to knowledge, but measurement shifts to use: downloads, access across universities, available databases, cost per use, and the proportion of research citing documented Iraqi data. Open-access publishing is encouraged where costs are fair and do not incentivise predatory journals.

18. Integrity, Methodology and Responsible Assessment

Stronger publishing incentives increase the need for stronger integrity. The 2045 system requires conflict-of-interest registration, functionally independent research ethics committees, trial registries where necessary, plagiarism and fabrication policies, retention of primary data, and fair investigation procedures. Integrity should not be “punishment after a scandal” but part of grant design.

The system also rejects one-dimensional assessment. A journal’s impact factor is not the quality of each paper; citation counts vary by field; and a patent does not imply economic value. Assessment uses a basket: methodological quality, field-normalised citations, data/code, researcher training, cooperation, application, a contract, standard, policy or demonstrated benefit. Weightings differ by project type.

19. Internationalisation and Expertise Networks: Partnerships That Build Capability within Iraq

International cooperation is neither a ceremonial goal nor inherently a sovereign risk. It becomes highly valuable when it transfers methods, tools, networks and funding, leaving capability within the institution. The Clarivate agreement is an example of building capability in output analysis, funding management and innovation, while scientific projects themselves require joint teams, international facilities, data sharing and training. ⁵

Partnerships should be designed around three questions: what capability do we lack? Who is the best partner? What remains after the contract ends? Clear ownership of data and results and access to training for Iraqis should be required, avoiding partnerships that make a university merely a sample or data provider without scientific participation or rights.

20. International Comparisons: Transfer the Mechanism, Not the Country

The comparative lesson is not that Iraq must immediately reach 2.5% or 4.94%. Its latest published baseline is 0.04% in 2021, with a substantial updating gap. The Vision therefore adopts an “absorption ladder”: measure first, build peer review, facilities and researchers, then increase funding as the system proves it can use it well. ^{3 16 17 18}

21. Iraq’s Research Landscape in 2045

22. Transformation Stages from 2027 to 2045

23. Indicator and Target Dashboard

The following targets are proposed policy commitments, not forecasts. Indicators lacking a baseline begin with measurement in 2027. If measurement shows Iraq already above a proposed value, the target is recalibrated towards greater ambition rather than lowering reality to fit the target.

Table 2: Proposed targets subject to recalibration after the 2027 baseline. They are not predictions.

No national target should be set for the number of research universities, patents or papers alone. The first research university cohort is determined after audit, and its size expands only when criteria have been met for three years. Intellectual property measurement tracks progression to proof of concept and licensing/contracts/application.

24. The Implementation Programme Package

25. Implementation, Cost and Financing Matrix

The Vision does not fix a nominal national cost before the 2027 inventory. Raising R&D as a share of GDP sets a funding-path ceiling, not an automatic budget transfer. Each annual increase passes an absorptive-capacity test: good proposals, peer review, researchers, equipment in use, monitoring and outputs. If capacity is insufficient, a larger share goes to capability building before a new grant wave opens.

26. Risk and Safeguards Register

27. Governance, Data and Review

The R&D system needs functional separation among four tasks: setting priorities, funding projects, performing research and evaluating the system. Some units may legally sit within one institution, but role conflicts are addressed through independent committees, records and external review. A grant beneficiary must not be the sole judge of its quality.

The Vision reviews indicators annually, mission portfolios every three years, and research university classifications every five years. An extraordinary review is triggered by a technological, climate or health shock or a major economic change. No institution or programme is protected from closure if its need disappears or it fails for several cycles without learning and correction.

28. Conclusion and Bridge to Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Research and development is the state’s ability to produce new knowledge when ready-made answers are insufficient. Iraq has researchers, universities, growing publication output, centres and an initial legal framework. Vision 2045, however, requires these parts to become a system: measurement and competitive funding, differentiated universities, shared facilities, researcher career paths, problems whose solutions the state and industry purchase, and knowledge transfer that prevents a project from ending at publication.