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Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

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<strong>Arab</strong> countries can be ranked in termsof expenditure on scientific research usingthe data shown in Table 5-4 below, whichdemonstrates the following:• Tunisia holds first place among <strong>Arab</strong>countries, with spending on researchand development exceeding 1.3 percent of GDP. Morocco follows, with0.75 per cent spent on research anddevelopment thanks to the allocation ofa significant portion of mobile phonerevenue and that of some agriculturaland industrial production sectors tothis end.• The private sector makes a relativelyactive contribution to funding researchin Oman, Tunisia, Qatar, and Saudi<strong>Arab</strong>ia, with an indicator ranging from3.5 to 3.9 (with 1 being the lowest and7 the highest.)• In the same context, Qatar, Tunisia,Saudi <strong>Arab</strong>ia, and Oman held firstplace among <strong>Arab</strong> countries, followedimmediately by the UAE. The rest ofthe <strong>Arab</strong> countries placed below fiftieth(out of 134 countries).It is worth pointing out the exceptional<strong>Arab</strong> initiative approved by Qatar inmid-September 2008 that calls for theallocation of 2.8 per cent of the generalbudget to support scientific research (LawNumber 24 of 2008 regarding support andregulation of scientific research).When the average per capita share oftotal expenditure on scientific research iscalculated as a measure of a state’s scientificand technological advancement, the resultsfor the <strong>Arab</strong> region are disappointingoverall, despite the significant differencesbetween countries. The annual share per<strong>Arab</strong> citizen of expenditure on scientificresearch does not exceed $10, compared tothe Malaysian citizen’s annual share of $33.Record levels are spent in small Europeancountries such as Ireland and Finland,where annual expenditures on scientificresearch per capita reach $575 and $1,304respectively. 13The availability of only modestgovernment funding may lead to theconsideration of alternative sources andTABLE 5-4CountryExpenditure on research in the <strong>Arab</strong> regionGovernmentPrivate sectorspending as aspendingpercentage of(scale of 1-7)2006 GDP 11Corporatespending onresearch(out of 134 states) 2Oman .. 3.9 44Tunisia 1.3 3.8 38Qatar .. 3.6 35Saudi <strong>Arab</strong>ia .. 3.5 43UAE .. 3.3 50Morocco 0.75 3.2 69Egypt 0.2* 3.1 57Kuwait 0.18 3.1 93Jordan 0.34 3.1 79Algeria .. 2.8 116Syria .. 2.7 115Bahrain .. 2.6 82Libya 0.7* .. 124Lebanon 3 0.2 .. ..Sudan 0.3 .. ..Sources:1World Bank Database, <strong>Knowledge</strong> Assessment Methodology (KAM), on 10 June 20082The World Economic Forum, 2008b3The National Council for Scientific Research, Lebanon*COMSTECH, 2007TABLE 5-5Expenditure on research and development andpercentage contributions from private andpublic sectors in comparison countriesSpending on Percentage PercentageCountryresearch and private sector public sectordevelopment contributions contributions(percentage of GDP) (percentage of GDP) (percentage of GDP)Sweden 3.73 2.79 0.94Japan 3.39 2.62 0.77Finland 3.37 2.46 0.91United States 2.61 1.84 0.77Germany 2.53 1.77 0.76France 2.09 1.34 0.75European Union(27 states)1.84 1.11 0.73China 1.42 1.01 0.41Spain 1.20 0.67 0.53Italy 1.09 0.54 0.55Source: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); the European Statistical Service Groups;UNESCO; the National Institute of Scientific Research (Quebec); Science and Technology Observatory, 2007.ARAB PERFORMANCE IN RESEARCH AND INNOVATION193

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