Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

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exchange of future technology servicesor at partnership in providing them willhelp to add value due to the migration tonext generation networks and services.These, in turn, will realise comprehensiveeconomic and social benefits that willextend in a cycle affecting all functions andsectors of society. In order to reach thisgoal, it is necessary to support researchactivity aimed at developing applicationsdedicated to spreading Arabic languageuse on the network. Coordination betweenArab countries and benefiting from thelessons of countries and institutions thathave made earlier progress in utilising anddeveloping modern technologies is calledfor.Advancement in the developmentand deployment of technologies thatensure improved confidentiality of datatransmission is expected to continue.However, such an advance will not beenough to limit the practices of certaincountries and institutions in exploitingtheir technological superiority to eavesdropand breach data confidentiality andprivacy.The future of ICT presents valuableopportunities to deploy innovative meansto acquire, produce, and distributeknowledge which will enrich Arabknowledge accumulation. It is expectedthat the cost of internet access inperipheral regions will continue to fall.The convergence of ICT and the mediawill also accelerate with the deploymentof broadband network infrastructure.This will expand the opportunities andoptions available to citizens to obtainmedia, education, and health services andto communicate with their governmentsand with local and external markets.In addition, the business sector willbe energised, and marginalised ruraland urban groups will be developed.Nevertheless, this increase in opportunityis dependent on to the application of clearpolicies that make the massive investmentrequired by communications technologycompatible with guarantees of the socialright of all citizen groups to benefit, aswell as support for the participation ofwomen and guarantees of freedom ofexpression.TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONSAND ARABIC DIGITALCONTENTREGULATORY FRAMEWORKSSince the end of the last decade,most Arab countries have begun toinstitutionalise ICT through policyformulation, infrastructure, institutionbuilding, and the enactment of lawsand regulations related to the utilisationof these technologies. Egypt, Tunisia,Jordan, and the UAE are consideredthe pioneers in these endeavours. Egyptcreated a ministry for communication andinformation technology in 1999. It laidthe foundations for a national plan aimedat setting the bases for the informationsociety in Egypt through coordinationbetween the pertinent governmentagencies and in partnership with privatesector institutions. Tunisia made markedefforts in the second half of the lastdecade aimed at developing and expandingthe communications infrastructure andhuman capacity, and at creating databasesto improve, in particular, the performanceof government institutions. An initiativeembracing ICT was launched in Jordanin 2000 to boost ICT exports and attractdirect foreign investment. The UAEstands out among its Arab peers in theimplementation of numerous activities thathave come to fruition in an impressivelyshort time. It therefore occupies advancedpositions in world rankings, and the topspot among Arab countries according tomany ICT indicators.The Arab countries have finalisedpolicies, strategies, and action plansconcerning ICT and its utilisation inaccordance with the decisions of theSummits on the Information Societyof 2003 and 2005 and the working planderiving from them. Initiatives have beentaken that seek to make the informationSince the end ofthe last decade,most Arab countrieshave begun toinstitutionalise ICTthrough policyformulation,infrastructure,institution building,and the enactmentof laws andregulations relatedto the utilisation ofthese technologiesThe UAE has cometo occupy advancedpositions in worldrankings and the topspot among Arabcountries accordingto many ICT indicatorsINFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES IN THE ARAB COUNTRIES153
Strategic decisionstaken in many Arabcountries havegiven the greatestshare of attentionto infrastructureissues and legislationand have not givenequivalent attentionto issues relatedto applications,digital content, anddevelopment of theuse of the Arabiclanguage on the netSecuring lowcost computers isconsidered one of theessential conditionsfor the broadestpossible disseminationof technologyand access toinformation andknowledge sourcessociety a reality and lay the ground for thedevelopment of national capacity to utiliseICT in numerous fields. Organisations havebeen founded charged with formulatingnational strategies and programmes for theutilisation of ICT applications, particularlyin the areas of government services,business, and education.Apart from a few isolated bright spots,however, strategic planning for the ICTsector by Arab countries and creation ofthe legal framework needed to regulate itsutilisation has taken place relatively slowly,as this chapter makes plain. A second lookat these strategies and laws is obviouslycalled for. This is not only due to the speedof development of these technologies,but because these strategies and lawshave ignored, or not used the necessarycare when dealing with, a number of keyissues without which it is not possible tomake ideal use of technology applications.Strategic decisions taken in many Arabcountries have given the greatest shareof attention to infrastructure issues andlegislation and have not given equivalentattention to issues related to applications,digital content, and development of theuse of the Arabic language on the net.THE ICT SECTOR INTHE ARAB COUNTRIESThe technology sector in the Arabcountries has witnessed considerablegrowth, the telecommunications branchproviding the lion’s share. The liberalisationof the telecoms sector has resulted in theemergence of large companies, some ofwhich have become active in the regionalArab and international arenas. However,the contribution of these companiesin most Arab countries to knowledgeproduction remains weak, even in termsof the content related to their operations.There is some evidence indicating a trendfor some companies in this sector to offergrants directed at economic and socialdevelopment. Once the foundations,institutions, and supporting legislationare in place, this sector will help toproduce digital content, especially thatrelated to their own marketing, as is doneby similar companies elsewhere. It isnoticeable that most Arab countries havecreated institutions to incubate, direct,and disseminate ICT. What they offer,however, is in its early stages. The existenceof sponsoring institutions is reckoned anecessity if the successful utilisation andexpansion of usage levels of technologyis to be guaranteed, provided this isaccompanied by legislation and practicesthat grant extensive freedom of use ofthese technologies.HARDWARE PRODUCTIONOR ASSEMBLYActivities connected with ICT are limitedto the production or assembly of hardwarefor personal computers and other ICTrelated devices on the one hand, andsoftware production on the other. SomeArab countries–Egypt and Saudi Arabia inparticular–have witnessed tangible privatesector investment in setting up assemblylines, generally for low-specificationcomputers. Securing low cost computers isconsidered one of the essential conditionsfor the broadest possible dissemination oftechnology and access to information andknowledge sources. To achieve this there isno alternative to the reliance on new formsof cooperative initiative. The “Computerfor $100” initiative recently launchedby the UNDP in cooperation with theMassachusetts Institute of Technologysecures a starting point to enable limitedincome sections of society to purchasecomputers. Nevertheless, securing $100 tobuy a computer still remains an impossiblegoal for tens of millions of students andother Arab citizens who could–andought to–benefit from such projects.Hence, to make such initiatives succeed,particularly in the high-population, lowincomeArab countries, partnershipsbetween government, the private sector,and civil society organisations are essential.The Saudi project “A Computer in EveryHome” provides, in principle, an example154 ARAB KNOWLEDGE REPORT 2009
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United Nations Development Programm
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This Report has been produced throu
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This year’s report may perhapsbes
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ICT in the Arab countries and reinf
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CONTENTSPREAMBLEIntroductionPrelimi
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Quantitative indicatorsTertiary edu
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LIST OF BOXESBox 1 The Effect of th
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Figure 5-7 Published scientific art
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Table 21 Time devoted to secondary
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The knowledgefield and revolutionto
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The literature onhuman rights place
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Arabic istechnologicallypoor in com
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Intercommunicationwith the self mea
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Table 2CountryGroupGroup 1: Oilecon
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Figure 2504540353025201510508070605
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In the period2003-2007, morethan 83
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eversion, in many cases, is not ass
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Thus the Arab region in general, an
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knowledge over recent years. This w
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However, this progress remains limi
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CHAPTER ONETHE THEORETICAL FRAMEWOR
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The successfuldeployment ofthe know
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The knowledgerevolution atthe end o
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Technology, theeconomy, andsociety,
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No one pursuesknowledge forits own
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The Report adoptsa concept ofknowle
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The goal of thiscritical review isn
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In our bidfor economicand humandeve
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The political reformproject remains
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Globalisation isdependent oninforma
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The battle overknowledge in oursoci
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The most obviousexample of the gapb
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BOX 1-9The Virtual as an Interrogat
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The upsurge intechnologicalprowess
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Collective humaneffort must bedirec
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End Notes1Epistemic saturation refe
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CHAPTER TWOARAB KNOWLEDGE PERFORMAN
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current economic crisis in the autu
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FIGURE 2-3Perceptions of corruption
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technology infrastructure, blogs ar
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nations continue to occupy their pr
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to the third oil boom, which reache
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have realised a degree of progress
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FIGURE 2-8Index of global competiti
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FIGURE 2-10Net exports of manufactu
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namely the spread of poverty, socia
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TABLE 2-2Arab Countries according t
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while some of these nine countries
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and political participation. All of
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first INTEL computer club; INTELis
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from the ages of thirteen to twenty
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solutions that allow use of the ava
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to this trajectory, a consumer, not
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specific cases.These flexibilities
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CHAPTER THREEEDUCATION AND THE FORM
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FIGURE 3-1Education and human resou
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of the qualitative knowledge capita
Page 120 and 121: TABLE 3-1CountryOpportunities for b
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Page 124 and 125: must possess if they aspire to part
Page 126 and 127: TABLE 3-2Opportunities for the form
Page 128 and 129: General secondary education andthe
Page 130 and 131: elatively high enrolment rates of b
Page 132 and 133: Available data shows large discrepa
Page 134 and 135: TABLE 3-3Comparison of overall resu
Page 136 and 137: females. According to this data, to
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Page 142 and 143: FIGURE 3-6aMaths performance of eig
Page 144 and 145: BOX 3-8The Contribution of Non-Publ
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Page 148 and 149: emained encumbered by the prevailin
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Page 152 and 153: countries and providing a picture o
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Page 156: 89Finland, for example, whose stude
Page 160 and 161: CHAPTER FOURINFORMATION AND COMMUNI
Page 162 and 163: FIGURE 4-1ICT index values for Arab
Page 164 and 165: countries and the Arab countries. T
Page 166 and 167: Arab countries-Egypt, Algeria, Leba
Page 168 and 169: of Arabic content and its low rate
Page 172 and 173: of national partnerships aimed at s
Page 174 and 175: TABLE 4-2Readiness of Arab countrie
Page 176 and 177: as the implementation of programmes
Page 178 and 179: BOX 4-2Evaluating the Performance o
Page 180 and 181: of common principles that guarantee
Page 182 and 183: data from various sources and then
Page 184 and 185: FIGURE 4-11Paper consumption and in
Page 186 and 187: processing and the methods and tool
Page 188 and 189: TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEAND FUTURE INI
Page 190 and 191: within bounds that do not hinder bu
Page 192 and 193: preservation and the consolidation
Page 194 and 195: 21As a result of the nature of comp
Page 196: CHAPTER FIVEARAB PERFORMANCE IN RES
Page 199 and 200: FIGURE 5-1Innovation system index f
Page 201 and 202: The extremely lowamounts spentby Ar
Page 203 and 204: It has become clearthat the wager o
Page 205 and 206: Joint researchprojects among Arabsc
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Page 209 and 210: Average expenditureon scientific re
Page 211 and 212: BOX 5-6Jordan’s “A Professor in
Page 213 and 214: BOX 5-8For the last three decades,
Page 215 and 216: FIGURE 5-7Published scientific arti
Page 217 and 218: A review of theperiod from 2002to 2
Page 219 and 220: Social scienceresearch holds aspeci
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Most Arabic-languageperiodicals in
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Arab societies arefilled with examp
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Human capitalis among Arabcountries
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TABLE 5-12Trade in technological pr
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It is ironic thatalthough the Arabw
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End Notes1UNESCO Institute for Stat
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CHAPTER SIXBUILDING THE KNOWLEDGE S
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The most conspicuousfeature of thek
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A review of nationalplans in the Ar
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The positiveachievements inthe Arab
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One of the keyfoundations of thevis
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Freedom andinstitutionalisationare
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Priorities are subjectto a great de
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If we admit thatlanguage is avehicl
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The major challengelies in changing
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Deployment is linkedto the creation
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The variousproposals includedin thi
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ReferencesReferences in Arabic‘Ab
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the President of the ICRC Expresses
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al-Duwal al-‘Arabiyya, UNESCO’s
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Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development asF
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Castells, Manuel. (1998/2001). LaSo
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the Age of Technology).• Binsa‘
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egional and international levels an
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ANNEX 3. MEASUREMENT OF THE ARABCOU
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indicators that make up the pillar.
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countries’ rankings among the cou
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of the Arab countries and suffer fr
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Freedom House and Heritage Institut
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Endnotes* This annex was prepared b
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STATISTICAL ANNEXGENERAL INDICATORS
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Table 3: Economic IndicatorsCountry
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KNOWLEDGE PERFORMANCE ENVIRONMENTST
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Table 7: Press Freedom Index in the
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EDUCATIONTable 9: Adult literacy ra
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Table 11: Gross enrolment ratios in
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Table 13: Adult illiterate populati
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Table 16: Net and gross enrolment i
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Table 18: Lessons in basic educatio
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Table 20: Literacy rates among youn
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Table 22: Evolution of enrolment ra
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Table 24: Student enrolment rates i
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Table 26: Distribution of graduates
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Table 28: Estimated educational lev
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Table 30: Enrolment rates in non-go
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RESEARCH AND INNOVATIONTable 32: Nu
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Table 34: Indicators on research an
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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHN
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FIGURE b-2Growth in average number
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competition between the internet se
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Table c-4: Ranking of a group of Ar
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United Nations Development Programm
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