Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

It has become clearthat the wager ontechnology transfer,so common in thelast century, hasended in failureConstraints onscientific research inArab countries arenot limited to theabsence or weaknessof institutionalstructures or theirlack of staff. Theyalso include theweakness of relevantadministrativearrangements andlegal frameworksfor the first time, approved importantresolutions in the area of the productionand dissemination of scientific knowledge.These resolutions urge Arab countries to“cooperate in the field of scientific research,increase expenditure on scientific researchto 2.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product(GDP) within the next ten years, encouragegovernment-private partnerships, andestablish scientific centres of excellence insocially and economically significant fieldssuch as water, desertification, nutrition,the environment, information technology,agriculture, renewable energy, disease,poverty, and peaceful uses of nuclearenergy.” 4 These resolutions were includedin the ten-year plan for scientific researchand development approved by the 2007Arab Summit held in Saudi Arabia.The Arabs have an opportunity to jointhe mainstream of scientific research andinnovation, which moves according to itsown laws and mechanisms and does nottarry for those who make no effort. It hasbecome clear that the wager on technologytransfer, so common in the last century,has ended in failure. The production ofknowledge and the mechanisms for itsassimilation depend on, in addition totransfer, an environment that supports theresearcher’s quest for new ideas, and theeconomic and social applications that theyare guaranteed to produce.PARTNERSHIP WITH THEPRIVATE SECTORPartnership between the state, the privatesector, and civil society is necessary forthe development of scientific research andinnovation in any society. Attention mustbe given to the role of the state as a primarypartner in the production and exploitationof local innovation, as experiences in anumber of developed countries and inChina and Malaysia have proven. Thispartnership can take the form of eitherof two intersecting and complementarymodels. The first comprises activepartnership between research anddevelopment institutions and institutionsof higher education, so that universitiesprovide research institutions with humanresources and then research findings areincorporated into educational curricula.The second model is that of activepartnership between industry (economicand social service and production sectors)on the one hand, and research anddevelopment institutions and institutionsof higher education on the other. Sucha partnership works toward defining socialneeds and research priorities, and translatesresearch findings into useful applications.Military research in Western and Asiancountries forms an important sub-field toboth research and development and themarketplace. Important data on this area issometimes made available on expenditure,levels of technological development,and the significance of commercialreturns, as well as the role of technologicaldevelopments in the adjustment of globalmilitary and political balances. Yet Arabindices, like international ones, lack precisedata on the extent and orientation ofresearch conducted for security, military,and defence purposes. According to thescarce information available in this field,this research is limited to improvingmilitary performance and to developingadvanced applications of informationtechnology and genetic research with theaim of upholding security, combating crimeand terrorism, and maintaining the regime.Some countries, such as Egypt, SaudiArabia, Syria, Iraq, Algeria, and Morocco,have at various periods establishedmilitary industries locally by building uponimported technologies.THE REALITY OF ARABRESEARCH CENTRESConstraints on scientific research in Arabcountries are not limited to the absence orweakness of institutional structures ortheir lack of staff. They also include theweakness of relevant administrativearrangements and legal frameworks,and this impacts on the efficiency andeffectiveness of these institutions.186 ARAB KNOWLEDGE REPORT 2009