UAE – The National: While oil wealth may generate significant income for a state, it is essentially its people that can ensure its future and security for generations to come. Investment in human capital has been highlighted as one of the key pillars for the economic visions of many of the Arabian Gulf states. The UAE Government in particular has been encouraging both the public and private sectors to develop local talent through Emiratisation and other human capital efforts. From the energy sector and high-tech industries to media and the arts, local and international firms have been investing in developing Emirati talent for the future as a knowledge-based economy. “On the front lines of developing our future knowledge economy, corporations have a clear sense of where talent will be needed five-10 years in the future and can take targeted and measured approaches to meeting those needs,” says Hanan Harhara, the head of human capital at the Advanced Technology Investment Company (Atic), a subsidiary of Mubadala. Rest of article
In this video from the Intel Datacenter Day, Raj Hazra presents: HPC – The Essential Tool for a Knowledge Economy. Hazra describes how HPC has become a fundamental capability for Discovery & Insight and how Intel is investing broadly to address future needs.
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The United Nations recently convened a daylong debate among experts to examine how to promote entrepreneurship as a tool for eradicating poverty, generating wealth and improving lives. The General Assembly in New York was streamed live at http://webtv.un.org. Thom Ruhe, vice president for entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation, spoke about the importance of entrepreneurship education. The Kauffman Foundation has provided a link here to Thom’s remarks. The UN is following through on a mandate from its Entrepreneurship for Development resolution that encourages all UN-related bodies to “recognize and integrate entrepreneurship in its various forms into their policies, programs and reports, and to support national efforts in this regard.” The objectives outlined in the UN resolution align closely with those of Global Entrepreneurship Week, the world’s largest celebration of entrepreneurship that will be held this Nov. 18-24
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Rabat, June 4, 2013 – A new World Bank-CMI-EIB and ISESCO report titled “Transforming Arab Economies: Traveling the Knowledge and Innovation Road” shows how an economy based on innovation and knowledge can help promote greater economic growth and spur competitiveness. The report, launched today in Rabat at an event organized with the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), underlines that greater investment in a knowledge-economy model will be needed to meet the job creation challenge common to the region.
“We hope this report can help countries of the Arab world imagine a new kind of development strategy with a knowledge and innovation-driven model at its very heart,” said Inger Andersen, Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank. “The report lays out helpfully how this approach can help Arab countries diversify their economies and innovate, creating new enterprises and jobs.” …
Many Arab countries have made progress over the last decade in terms of rolling out education access and information and communication technologies (ICT), gradually improving the institutional environment for private-sector led growth. Morocco and Tunisia have worked to support innovation, especially through the creation of technoparks and industrial zones that have attracted foreign direct investment and advanced manufacturing operations. Jordan has embarked on a major effort to transform the education system at the early childhood, basic, and secondary levels to produce graduates with the skills needed for the knowledge economy. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has launched a host of education reforms and has invested in the development of new universities, especially to boost science and technology.
The report describes how engaging in a knowledge-economy model involves the implementation of a number of key cross-sectoral reforms that can create an incentivizing environment for innovation and growth. This would require the adoption of a combination of policies, including developing more open and entrepreneurial economies, preparing a more skilled labor force, improving innovation and research capabilities, and expanding information and communication technologies (ICT) and their applications. Rest
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Daunting challenges lie before the Arab-speaking workforce today. Forty million jobs must be created in the next decade to employ the region, home to the highest rate of youth unemployment – not to mention that many countries are still undergoing a period of political transition. The fundamental question about job creation now is where these countries should be headed and how they are getting there.
Moving to a knowledge and innovation-based economy is an idea whose time has come. The links between knowledge and innovation (and by extension, to productivity) are undisputed. And in the same way that productivity is the enabler of an economy, education can be considered to be a fundamental pillar of the knowledge economy. …
All in all, if a move is to be made in the direction of a knowledge economy in MENA, investing in high quality education is essential. This is the key to creating good and decent jobs that are so needed in the region today. The STEP meaning Skills Toward Employment and Productivity approach provides a simple yet comprehensive way to look at skills development for more jobs and higher productivity. It also helps to orient the areas of action needed in the Arab world. These issues, and more, are further explored in the World Bank’s forthcoming report: Transforming Arab Economies: Traveling the Knowledge and Innovation Road (World Bank 2013). Full post
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Dubai: The knowledge-based economy will contribute 5 per cent to the UAE’s gross domestic product (GDP ) by 2021, Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, told media on the sidelines of The Second Forum of Economic Policies.
“Based on UAE strategy 2021, knowledge-based economy which is directly based on the production, distribution and use of knowledge and information should contribute five per cent in the UAE GDP,” he said.
Al Mansouri recently called to develop a unified GCC strategy to formulate and maximise performance and well-being in knowledge-based economies. Rest
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Thanks to my friend, Phil Yanov, I am at InnoVenture 2013 “live blogging” about a great line-up of speakers this year.
9:15 Charlie Farrell just presented on the SC Dept. of Commerce Task Force on Aerospace and Aviation.
9:20 Jim Stike, MIT-RCF, is talking about his 8 year old start-up – born out of patented technology that takes chopped up carbon fiber material and reprocesses it for aerospace components $9 million in Phase I, II, and II grants. Boeing started working with them to reclaim carbon fiber parts. Chopped fiber, rolled goods, preformed goods. Scrap from virgin carbon fiber manufacturers. Advanced materials company – not just a recycler. Boeing scrap is even turned into carbon fiber drum sticks! Looks like lots of great potential for this company.
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“We’re thrilled that Bill Gates, Brad Smith, Steve Ballmer, and Sean Parker — longtime advocates for vital policies like comprehensive immigration reform that will grow our economy — are joining FWD.us’ efforts to organize and engage the tech community,” Joe Green, president of FWD.us, said in a statement.
“We’ve been excited by the momentum we continue to see as more members of the tech community contribute to the national debate to improve our economic future, and support the bipartisan policies that will boost economic growth and continue to grow the knowledge economy,” he said. Rest at allthingsD.com
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Dan Ariely, Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University, continues his string of great TED talks with his latest discussion of what motivates us in the knowledge economy to feel good about our work (TED Talk link).
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[The founder of Facebook comments on problems with our current “strange immigration policy” and the need to improve it to help all members of our society gain from the rewards of our knowledge economy]
“Today’s economy is very different. It is based primarily on knowledge and ideas — resources that are renewable and available to everyone. Unlike oil fields, someone else knowing something doesn’t prevent you from knowing it, too. In fact, the more people who know something, the better educated and trained we all are, the more productive we become, and the better off everyone in our nation can be.
This can change everything. In a knowledge economy, the most important resources are the talented people we educate and attract to our country. A knowledge economy can scale further, create better jobs and provide a higher quality of living for everyone in our nation.” Full article
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