Government ministers recently discussed the UAE strategy for “life after oil” at a retreat in Dubai. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, directed the launch of a new economic strategy with emphasis on four main areas: the development of human capital, building a knowledge-based economy, improving government policies and engaging the community. These are laudable objectives to ensure a sustainable economy. The development of human capital is key to accelerating the transfer to a knowledge-based economy.
Knowledge-based economies derive value from advancing knowledge. Innovation arises from the new and the incremental. In a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy, science is the essential resource. Innovation-driven economies have the foundation and impetus to create new jobs and new products and services. Research is at the core of the knowledge-based economy.
The UAE has major challenges when it comes to research and development. The challenges are on both the demand side (businesses and industries), and the supply side (higher academic institutions).
Compared with other countries, UAE higher education institutions are not research intensive, and the country’s record of investment in research in recent years has been insufficient to raise the bar. According to OECD reports, theUAE’s investment in research remains extremely low by world standards.
Also, applied research is concentrated in a narrow range of industrial sectors (hydrocarbons and power), and in a small number of large companies (namely oil and gas companies).
However, there are reasons to be optimistic. The UAE’s relatively strong and stable economic performance will improve the climate for business investment and the science base in a number of universities and colleges remains strong. The anticipated changes in laws related to business ownership will spur more private sector activities where most business-related research and development takes place.
Business is changing too. Two broad trends are reshaping the way companies are undertaking research around the world. The first is that they are moving away from a system in which most of their research is done in-house to one in which they are actively seeking to collaborate.
The second is that business research is going global. Multinationals are locating their research centres in their most important markets, especially if those markets happen to contain centres of outstanding research.
These trends provide good opportunities for universities and higher technology colleges in the UAE. Unlike corporate or government owned research facilities, university laboratories are constantly being refreshed by the arrival of clever new brains.
A growing number of science-based companies are developing across the UAE, but they need to be clustered around a university base. Networks need to be created to bring business people and academics together. Public spending on science and technology should be increased significantly to make use of these international networks. In all countries where private industry based research is large, government research is equally large.
Finally, it is recommended that universities in the UAE get better at identifying their areas of competitive strength in research and focus their efforts on building human and physical capacity in such areas.
The UAE government needs to do more to support research and development activities in universities and higher technology colleges, and promote and support business-university collaboration. Business needs to learn how to apply the innovative ideas that are being developed in the higher education sector and be able to take more risk in the process of commercialising the research outcome.
Dr Kamiel Gabriel is an international consultant in higher education research and innovation strategies and is the author of The Anatomy of Innovation – What makes innovation succeed in the 21st Century?
