Data methodology

Each dataset on this site has a rule set. They are published here so that anyone can check whether a chart was built correctly.

Capital

Individual capital events in biotechnology and life sciences involving a GCC investor, a GCC recipient or a GCC asset. Market-size estimates, sovereign assets under management, national GDP targets, healthcare expenditure forecasts and production capacity figures are held separately in context.json, because they measure scale rather than capital transactions and are kept apart from the records below in every sum.

Summation rule. Sums are drawn exclusively from records with disclosed=true and status in [Signed, Committed, Deployed, Closed], within a single status. Announced values and available-fund values are kept separate from deployed capital. Transactions with disclosed=false are reported as a count rather than a monetary flow.

Currency. GCC currencies used here are pegged to the US dollar: SAR 3.75, AED 3.6725, QAR 3.64, BHD 0.376, OMR 0.3845, KWD floats against a basket. Conversions are stated with the date applied.

Status vocabulary. Announced, Proposed, Available fund, Signed, Committed, Deployed, Closed, Under construction, Operational, Cancelled. A transaction is recorded at the status the source supports, rather than the status its parties intend.

Context figures

Figures that describe the size of a market, a fund, an economy or a production line. Each measures scale rather than a capital transaction. They are held apart from capital.json so that every chart, total and headline keeps them separate from money actually committed to a company, a facility or a programme.

Rule. Figures in this file are added neither to figures in capital.json nor to figures of a different kind within this file.

Infrastructure

Physical and programmatic life-sciences assets in the six GCC states: manufacturing plants, cell and gene therapy centres, genomics programmes, biobanks, clinical trial centres, shared laboratories, reference laboratories, accelerators and research institutes.

Status rule. Status describes what has been verified to exist, as distinct from what has been announced about it. Proposed means the project has been named as an intention, ahead of a published site, timeline or capacity. Announced means the project has been named with at least one concrete parameter. Operational means a source confirms it is running.

The map is schematic. Country outlines are simplified and drawn to locate assets rather than to represent borders. Assets located at city level are placed at the city centroid, and country-level aggregates are shown as a single marker.

Companies and IP

Type distinguishes a company founded in the Gulf from a foreign company with Gulf operations, a joint venture, a government-owned platform, a university spinout and a distributor. Each type is distinct, and the distinction is the point of the dataset.

Reading the table. Every filled cell traces to a published source, and blank cells are filled as sources publish. Patent positions are recorded where a specific filing or grant has been published, and owned patent positions are the next milestone across the tracker. A next milestone is listed where it is specific to that organisation; where the next step is shared by a whole class of company, the column stays concise rather than repeating itself. Cohort membership in an accelerator records selection; funding, revenue, approval and intellectual property are recorded separately as each is published.

Nutrition, metabolic health and food policy

What the six GCC states actually regulate about dietary fats, oils, sugar and salt, the metabolic burden those rules are aimed at, and where food biotechnology intersects with them.

Status rule. Mandatory means a published instrument requires it. Voluntary means the instrument exists and compliance is at the discretion of those it covers. Guidance means advice issued by an authority to inform practice, distinct from a regulatory requirement. Draft means it has been published for consultation, and takes effect on adoption.

A7i treats the distinction between a mandate, a voluntary standard and guidance as load-bearing. Keeping the three apart is what makes an account of Gulf food policy accurate.

Clinical translation

Programmes with published evidence of a named therapy, diagnostic or research programme reaching a defined stage in a GCC state.

Stage rule. A programme is recorded at the furthest stage public evidence supports, rather than the furthest stage its sponsor intends to reach, and advances as each new stage is published.

Global exports

Verified instances of Gulf-owned or Gulf-developed life-science capability reaching markets outside the GCC.

Scope rule. This dataset measures the outbound direction: Gulf capability reaching the world. Imported technology, inbound licensing and local distribution of foreign products are classed as inbound activity rather than exports.

Every entry is a verified outbound achievement, and the dataset grows as Gulf capability reaches new markets.

Regulation

Regulatory information is provided for editorial and research purposes and should be verified directly with the relevant authority.

Review timelines are taken directly from each authority's own published targets.

Capability index

A count rather than a score. Each cell records how much verified activity A7i currently holds in its own datasets for that country and sector. It is reproducible: anyone with the datasets on this site can rebuild it.

For each country and sector, A7i counts the records in capital.json, facilities.json, companies.json, clinical.json and exports.json that fall in that cell and meet the evidence test for each level. Levels are assigned as follows.

0 · Baseline. The starting point for each cell, ahead of its first record in an A7i dataset.
1 · Stated intent. A national programme, policy or early-stage company exists, with an operating asset, closed transaction or published result as the next step.
2 · Verified activity. One operating asset, one signed or closed transaction, or one published result.
3 · Established activity. Two or more operating assets, signed transactions or published results.

Reading the index.

The index measures what A7i has verified, so each cell reads as a floor that rises as A7i sources new records.
It counts records rather than weighting by size. Two operating factories and three operating factories both score 3.
Quality, output and commercial performance are read alongside the count, from the underlying records.
Levels are read within a sector. A 3 in genomics and a 3 in biomanufacturing describe different quantities of underlying activity.
Marked cells rest on records with verification in progress and should be read as provisional.

Value chain

To show where the Gulf is operating today and where ambition is becoming capability next. Each stage lists what A7i has verified and what comes next.

Achievements and opportunities are stated with equal precision. A developing stage reflects the current state of the public evidence and points to the next opportunity.

Validation

Before publication every dataset is run through an automated validator that checks each record for a source, a date and a verification date within the last 180 days, and flags duplicate transactions, possible capital double-counting, facilities whose expected opening date has passed and articles due for review. The validator is published with the site and its output is the basis for the flags shown on individual records.