Scientists say funding delays are holding back research, as grants approved last year have not been distributed.
The reason, says Ken Wilson, the director of the National Research Foundation, the UAE's grant-making organisation, is that a budget for the grants is awaiting approval. He said he hopes the money will start flowing by the end of the year. Researchers fear the delay could give other countries an advantage against the Emirates in vital technologies.
One such scientist is Nikolaus Mavridis, a researcher at UAE University who has been developing robots that interact with people in innovative ways. One is able to "communicate" in both English and Arabic, while another can identify people and look them up on social networking websites. The former, known as Ibn Sina, has made the rounds at malls and conventions and has even made presentations. But the funding delay means the project is now stalled.
"There are a hundred other applications for robots that could be used in the UAE and many interesting research topics that could benefit our students, as well as the world, which are related to robotics," Mr Mavridis said. "But to be able to do that ... we need people - especially PhD students - funds, and a more flexible bureaucracy so that we can operate without huge overhead and connect with other world-class institutions."
Like many other researchers, Dr Mavridis was allocated grants last year from the National Research Foundation. The foundation was established two years ago and is the only organisation designed to channel government funds to university research projects. "There hasn't been a culture of undertaking research here, but the government is just beginning to realise the importance of competitive knowledge," said Mr Wilson.
"The NRF is just waiting in line, along with every other organisation on the government level. That makes it incredibly difficult for those relying on these grants because there are virtually no other funding sources out there at the moment." The delay has affected researchers at Zayed University. Many of their projects were put on hold when university officials learned that NRF funds would be delayed.
Plans for a centre to research bilingualism, for instance, were halted, and the university was unable to retain a director it had hired for the programme. "We quickly realised we were running on a budget we didn't have and decided to mothball the programme until the money comes through, which we're hopeful it will," said Chet Jablonski, the assistant provost for research and graduate programmes at Zayed.
At the University of Wollongong in Dubai, Dr Kamal Jaafar has been expecting to receive between Dh850,000 and Dh1 million for research into building and structure design in earthquake-prone regions, a joint project with the American University of Sharjah and the National Center of Meteorology and Seismology. Despite receiving Dh45,000 from the university toward research and conference expenses, Dr Jaafar says his study is stuck at the theoretical stages until NRF funding comes through. To finish the project, he needs to build an intricate, small-scale bridge.
"This has been dragging on for a long time, and, frankly speaking, research is now very limited because of the delay," he said. "In order to validate a theory you need to do the experimentation, the simulation, and that is the costly part. Theory is just not enough." For his work on robots, Dr Mavridis's research group has received significant funding from Microsoft, as well as a small grant from the Emirates Foundation, an independent philanthropic organisation.
What is missing is the corporate sponsorship needed to get Ibn Sina, or his more sociable "facebot", Sarah, off the ground commercially. Resembling a laptop on a handcart with a pair of binoculars mounted on top, Sarah is able to recognise the faces of human being or images of them on Facebook. She can recall her encounters and convey information about other members of an online social network by reading newsfeeds.
At shopping malls, that technology could be used to help tailor advertisements to those viewing them, while also collecting information on shoppers' tastes. Researchers in the US and Europe are using similar technology to help autistic children learn facial cues. "This is why it would be nice to ... have innovation that's good for the UAE and region, as well as the world as a whole," Dr Mavridis said.
Earlier this year, Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, called the research budget at government universities "weak". But Rory Hume, the provost of UAE University, said he expects opportunities to increase as Abu Dhabi draws up a new funding model for educational institutions. A strategic plan for 2018, unveiled in June, includes Dh4.9 billion for higher education. Federal and private universities will be invited to apply for research grants.
In addition, the Abu Dhabi Education Council recently announced a semiconductor research and development strategy, which is designed to accompany a new multibillion-dollar microchip manufacturing plant. "We're expecting support from the rising semiconductor industry, as well as other new industries," Mr Hume said.
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