NTRA's R&D department was established in 2007 with key objectives of supporting national research activities in the area of telecommunications, watching for and keeping pace with emerging telecom technologies and applications, and bridging the gap between academic activities and technical developments from one perspective and policy visions and market needs from another.
Towards achieving such goals, NTRA has been launching several programs including:
- Research Projects: periodically announcing call for research proposals on topics in line with worldwide trends and of interest to NTRA, the industrial community, and public needs.
- In-house Studies: conducting studies independently or in collaboration with other entities for technology assessment, implementation of national projects, and assisting the decision making at NTRA.
- Students-oriented programs: NTRA puts an eye on developing youth skills through sponsoring graduation projects, hosting summer training sessions, offering a specialized Telecommunications course within the curriculum of communications departments, and offering seminars on special topics at universities.
- International collaboration: effectively participating in and contributing to international meetings, conferences and standardization activities.
