From January 26 through January 30, CLDP, in association with the World Bank, conducted a workshop in Istanbul, Turkey, on technology incubators. This workshop was organized for two Iraqi ministries that play a key role in the development of technology-based entrepreneurship in Iraq: the Ministry of Industry and Minerals (MIM) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST). The workshop consisted of three parts: visits with Turkish technology incubators and with institutions funding these incubators; a half-day of meetings with the World Bank to prepare a proposal for World Bank support to Iraqi technology incubators; and a day and a half of working sessions to arrive at a draft law on technology incubators.

The workshop resulted in two deliverables: first, the group drafted the essential components of a law on technology incubators. For both MIM and MoST, the enactment of such a law is a sine qua non condition of the development of technology incubators in Iraq. Second, the group developed a timetable to implement an action plan for cooperation with the World Bank/infoDev. This action plan could potentially lead to funding or technical assistance.