Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

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driven economies that are in the first stageof development (World Economic Forum,2007, in Arabic).The readiness of Arab productionand service institutions for innovation ismeasured by a number of indicators (Table5-12) that can be analysed as follows.• The percentage of GDP made up ofmanufactured exports is declining inmost Arab countries when comparedwith otherwise similar countries, withthe exception of the UAE, where suchexports account for 75 per cent of alltrade, and Jordan and Tunisia, where itcomprises 72 per cent and 63 per centrespectively. Perhaps the reasons forthe success of these countries is theincreased number of free industrialzones and preferential trade partnershipagreements with European Unioncountries, the USA, and some Asianemerging economies .• According to World Bank statistics, theUAE rated highest for hi-tech exportsas a percentage of all manufacturedexports (10.2 per cent), followed byMorocco (10.1 per cent) and Jordan(5.2 per cent).• Most Arab countries score positiveyet average rankings with regard totheir supply chain presence via theirengagement with the post-extractionstages of materials or their production,including the design and marketing ofproducts and the provision of postsaleservices. This is due to the growingconviction in the private sector that thecompetency of production institutionsin assimilating new technologiesmust improve in order to maintaincompetitive positions in local andglobal markets.• The position of most Arab countrieshovers around the mid-point on the“venture capital availability” index, 29with positive exceptions in the UAE,Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. This midpointranking indicates the persistenceof cautious policies among investors inArab countries and their hesitancy toinvest in new, innovative projects. Somesigns of change are, however, beginningto appear, as manifested in initiativessponsored by newly developed Gulfcountries to bring together innovativeArab researchers and venture capitalistsin the region to fund the shift frominnovative projects to production.THE DISSEMINATIONOF KNOWLEDGE ANDINNOVATIONOutside of educational institutions, Arabcountries have made only modest effortsto transfer knowledge to the general publicor to transfer either locally produced orimported knowledge to the productionand service sectors. The mechanismsof knowledge transfer remain limited innumber and type, and even more so inimpact on mainstream society. Among themost prominent mechanisms that haveproved their viability and positive impactfor the transfer of knowledge in newlydeveloped and industrialised states alike arethe following: industrial and technologicalcities; joint programmes between scientificresearch institutions and production sectors;business incubators; business developmentcentres; specialised centres of excellence;houses of expertise; standardisationbodies; quality assurance certificates;general and specialised scientific media andinformation diffusion centres; internationaltrade points; export promotion centres;industrial subcontracting centres; andexhibitions, seminars, and conferences,in addition to well-qualified and capablechambers of commerce and industry, andprofessional unions.There is insufficient information onthese mechanisms in Arab countries toallow a study of their development overtime, especially with regard to efficiencyand effectiveness. Nevertheless, a numberof signs demonstrate a growing interest insuch things, such as the organisation of anumber of global technology exhibitions,organised by production or importcompanies, especially in the Gulf countriesor Egypt, as well as major projects forOutside ofeducationalinstitutions, Arabcountries have madeonly modest efforts totransfer knowledgeto the general publicor to transfer eitherlocally produced orimported knowledgeto the productionand service sectorsWith the exceptionof the UAE, thepercentage ofGDP made up ofmanufactured exportsis declining in mostArab countrieswhen comparedwith otherwisesimilar countriesARAB PERFORMANCE IN RESEARCH AND INNOVATION211
It is ironic thatalthough the Arabworld contains awealth of skilledprofessionals andhuman capital,it is incapable ofdeploying thiswealth optimallyin production anddevelopmentIf a generalplan to improveArab knowledgeperformance is to beproposed, the startingpoint lies in a movefrom the currentmajor dependence onnatural resources andan attempt instead tobuild a new economythe construction of industrial cities thatfocus on the establishment of industrialinfrastructure. However, these do notinclude the required mechanisms to select,transfer, and indigenise technology.In the Maghreb and some Gulfcountries, there are signs that some nationalcompanies and institutions are becomingconvinced of the importance of investingin innovation by focusing on the training ofspecialised human resources, transferringand indigenising technology, and relying onlocal expertise. Thus in recent years, someGulf countries have established strategicpartnerships with a number of the world’sbest universities with the aim of establishingbranches in the Gulf. Examples includethe King Abdullah University of Scienceand Technology, Education City in Qatar,and the Dubai Knowledge Village. Thesepartnerships include the establishmentof specialised departments for scientificresearch in advanced fields of knowledge,as well as establishing research partnershipsto form a “coalition of great minds, grandideas, and daring ambitions, as a forumfor thinkers from the East and West thatwill allow them to overcome the limits ofgeography, culture, and specialisation” inscientific research. While it is still early tojudge these initiatives and their impact onthe production of knowledge in the region,these are truly innovative initiatives, and itis hoped that they will include specific andrealistic mechanisms for guaranteeing theirsustainability, transferring the knowledgeproduced within them to the Arab world,and indigenising this knowledge in Arabinstitutions and society.BOOSTING ARAB RESEARCHAND INNOVATIONPERFORMANCEThe innovation pillar forms a major weakpoint in Arab knowledge performance.It is ironic that although the Arab worldcontains a wealth of skilled professionalsand human capital, it is incapableof deploying this wealth optimally inproduction and development. This ironyposes questions that can no longer beignored: How has it been possible to makea relative quantitative breakthrough inthe higher education system without thatreflecting positively on innovative researchactivities? How is it possible to conceiveof innovation without accumulatingknowledge through scientific research?How can policies be devised for sustainabledevelopment, social security, and increasedcompetitiveness without building on targetorientedscientific research programmes?How can scientific knowledge be built upwithout linking it to Arab and global storesof knowledge? How should we thinkabout the preceding questions in light ofthe gaps in data, statistics, and indicators?How is it possible to be content to benefitfrom information and communicationstechnologies without contributing to theirproduction and development? How canwe think about a qualitative breakthroughin research and development withoutestablishing an effective partnershipbetween the public and private sectors andamong the constituencies of society, bothmen and women?Perhaps no convincing answers to thesequestions exist, but it is time that they wereposed and thought given to them. If ageneral plan to improve Arab knowledgeperformance is to be proposed, the startingpoint lies in a move from the current majordependence on natural resources and anattempt instead to build a new economy.This would be based on knowledge andrely on the following pillars:• A large repertoire of human andintellectual capital based on a cultureof competency and quality; a critical,capable, and proactive approach tothinking, and the capacity to deal withthe complicated demands of a societythat is growing increasingly dependenton knowledge.• An efficient institutional systemcharacterised by clearly defined andinnovative mechanisms that functionin effective and enabling environmentscapable of achieving knowledge growthand sustainable social development.212 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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information systems. The available
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89Finland, for example, whose stude
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CHAPTER FOURINFORMATION AND COMMUNI
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FIGURE 4-1ICT index values for Arab
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countries and the Arab countries. T
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Arab countries-Egypt, Algeria, Leba
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of Arabic content and its low rate
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exchange of future technology servi
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of national partnerships aimed at s
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TABLE 4-2Readiness of Arab countrie
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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
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
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: TABLE 5-12Trade in technological pr
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
Page 255 and 256: The variousproposals includedin thi
Page 258 and 259: ReferencesReferences in Arabic‘Ab
Page 260 and 261: the President of the ICRC Expresses
Page 262 and 263: al-Duwal al-‘Arabiyya, UNESCO’s
Page 264 and 265: Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development asF
Page 266: Castells, Manuel. (1998/2001). LaSo
Page 269 and 270: the Age of Technology).• Binsa‘
Page 271 and 272: egional and international levels an
Page 274 and 275: ANNEX 3. MEASUREMENT OF THE ARABCOU
Page 276 and 277: 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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