Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

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FIGURE 5-4Arab-international cooperation in scientific dissemination, 2004Egypt66.0 19.5 14.5JordanLebanonSyriaTunisiaAlgeriaMorocco0%Source: Estime Programme, 2007Although Arab countries have public andprivate scientific research institutions andcentres, they are heavily informed by thenotion of technology transfer and do notwork to indigenise existing knowledge so asto allow for innovation and local knowledgeproduction. As a result, these institutionshave not succeeded in determiningsocietal needs and setting researchpriorities, and this in turn has loweredtheir actual impact on higher and technicaleducational curricula. In the context ofthese structural problems, the complaintis increasingly heard that most researchersfail to show interest in publishing anddisseminating their results and thusincreasing their benefit to society. Otherscomplain about the weakness of electroniccommunications with global scientificresearch networks, with a resulting fallingbehind by institutions and researchersin following and benefiting from globaldevelopments.Yet the picture is not all that bleak.Strong points do exist, as do initiativesthat merit attention and a little hope, if notalso a great deal of concern. Arab researchcentres are diverse and endow qualifiedindividuals with an appropriate education50.0 25.8 24.254.8 19.4 25.837.1 25.8 37.146.8 6.5 46.840.3 4.8 54.837.0 6.5 56.550% 100%State onlyWithout EUWith EUand a considerable accumulation ofcontemporary experience. These individualsmay become prominent heralds of scienceand innovation if provided with materialand moral support.Arab research centres at first focussedon the basic sciences but subsequentlydiversified their programmes to includemedical and agricultural sciences amongother applied specialisations. Duringthe last two decades, human, social, andenvironmental sciences have been added.There is a focus on locally significantspecialisations in some centres, such asBOX 5-3The fourth annual analysis of expenditureon research and development conductedby the consulting firm Booz andCompany showed that the world’slargest companies spent 492 billionUSD on research and development in2007, a noticeable increase of 6.7 percent of compound annual growth ratesince 1999. These companies spent anaverage of 45 per cent of their researchand development expenditure in theirArab researchcentres are diverseand endow qualifiedindividuals with anappropriate educationand a considerableaccumulation ofcontemporaryexperience. Theseindividuals maybecome prominentheralds of science andinnovation if providedwith material andmoral supportExpenditure on Research and Developmenthome countries, and invested the restin other countries in order to benefitfrom the latter’s experience and skillsand their proximity to growing markets.The companies that invested more than60 per cent of their funds allocated forresearch and development outside oftheir home countries recorded a betterperformance with regard to returns toshareholders, operating margins, andmarket share.Source: Barry Jaruzelski and Kevin Dehofff, 2008. “Beyond Borders: The Global Innovation 1000,” on the website http://www.strategy-business.com/media/file/sb53_08405.pdf, on 17 December 2008.ARAB PERFORMANCE IN RESEARCH AND INNOVATION187
Joint researchprojects among Arabscientific researchinstitutions workingin similar fieldsremain extremelyrare even withinthe same countryThe largest and mostsignificant proportionof funding for mostArab research centrescomes from the stateThe obstacles tofunding and the lackof incentive-drivenwork opportunitiesfor researchers areamong the reasonsfor most Arabcountries’ weaknessin research. This iscompounded by adearth of research,and the scarcity ofsupport offeredby public andprivate industrypalm tree research in a number of Gulfcountries, agricultural research in Egypt,Syria, Morocco, and Sudan, and linguisticresearch in the Maghreb. Surprisingly, jointresearch projects among Arab scientificresearch institutions working in similarfields remain extremely rare even withinthe same country. The joint projectscurrently being implemented focus onpartnerships with Western industrial states(Figure 5-4) and the exchange of scientificvisits and training, especially when fundingis available. This situation results inpersistently weak impact.With regard to the structure of Arabresearch and development centres, theyfunction through ministries of highereducation and scientific research (eightcountries), ministries of education (threecountries), and a ministry of planning (onecountry), in addition to some specialisedministries (agriculture, health, industry).Five Arab countries (Lebanon, Kuwait,Bahrain, the UAE, and Qatar) show anexception to this trend, having assignedthe task of research and developmentto relatively independent councils andacademies (Nabil ‘Abd al-Majid Salih,2008, in Arabic). Egypt currently hasthe largest number of research centres(fourteen specialised government researchcentres, 219 research centres under theauspices of ministries, and 114 centres atuniversities). In Tunisia, there are thirtythreeresearch centres comprising 139laboratories and 643 branch research units.Technological research cities are few andare limited to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, andTunisia (UNECA, 2008, in French). Otherserious attempts exist in the Arab region,such as the Science and Technology Oasisthat functions under the umbrella of theQatar Foundation and sponsors numerousscientific and developmental studies.The largest and most significantproportion of funding for most Arabresearch centres comes from the state.In Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, forexample, research institutions enjoy closerelations with the public sector and thestate, which in return expects from thema considerable contribution to social andeconomic development programmes.These institutions have recently begun totake an important step toward developingself-evaluation tools, yet they also continueto suffer from centralised decision-makingand their ties to state funding, despite theirincreasing access to bilateral Europeanprogrammes and Euromed programmes.The obstacles to funding and the lack ofincentive-driven work opportunities forresearchers are among the reasons for mostArab countries’ weakness in research. Thisis compounded by a dearth of research,and the scarcity of support offered bypublic and private industry.Based on the analysis of the availabledata on research and innovation practicesand outputs, Arab countries can beclassified in one of three models: 5Model one: Countries whose researchcentres are characterised by a highlycentralised administration and abureaucratic relationship with the publicsector. The funding for these researchcentres is limited to state contributions, andthey show no diversity in their financial orhuman resources. The missions of theseresearch centres and their programmesare burdened with scientific servicesrequired by public utilities. As such, theircontribution to the production of originalresearch and patents are limited and theydo not include all scientific specialisations(Syria, Libya, Algeria, Sudan).Model two: Countries whose centresare characterised by flexibility in theirrelationship with the public sector anddiversity in their funding sources andhuman resources. Their most significantresearch production, however, remainswithin the institutions that are able todraw international support and buildpartnerships with industry . The institutionswithin this model show promisingdynamism, yet they are also characterisedby the frequently brief tenure of theirexperts and their intensive domestic andinternational travel (Tunisia, Lebanon,Jordan).Model three: Countries whose centres188 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
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TABLE 3-1CountryOpportunities for b
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Virtually the only area in which Ar
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must possess if they aspire to part
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TABLE 3-2Opportunities for the form
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General secondary education andthe
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elatively high enrolment rates of b
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Available data shows large discrepa
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TABLE 3-3Comparison of overall resu
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females. According to this data, to
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show educational accomplishments am
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inroads well beyond their current f
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FIGURE 3-6aMaths performance of eig
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BOX 3-8The Contribution of Non-Publ
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Kuwait, and the worst performers su
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emained encumbered by the prevailin
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eveal the breadth of the gap that c
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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
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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
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Page 184 and 185: FIGURE 4-11Paper consumption and in
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Page 188 and 189: TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEAND FUTURE INI
Page 190 and 191: within bounds that do not hinder bu
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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: It has become clearthat the wager o
Page 207 and 208: Theoretically, themore researcherst
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
Page 221 and 222: Most Arabic-languageperiodicals in
Page 223 and 224: Arab societies arefilled with examp
Page 225 and 226: Human capitalis among Arabcountries
Page 227 and 228: TABLE 5-12Trade in technological pr
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Page 231 and 232: End Notes1UNESCO Institute for Stat
Page 234: CHAPTER SIXBUILDING THE KNOWLEDGE S
Page 237 and 238: The most conspicuousfeature of thek
Page 239 and 240: A review of nationalplans in the Ar
Page 241 and 242: The positiveachievements inthe Arab
Page 243 and 244: One of the keyfoundations of thevis
Page 245 and 246: Freedom andinstitutionalisationare
Page 247 and 248: Priorities are subjectto a great de
Page 249 and 250: If we admit thatlanguage is avehicl
Page 251 and 252: The major challengelies in changing
Page 253 and 254: 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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