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Jul 05 2012

Qatar, UAE lead the Middle East in innovation performance

Thursday, Jul 05, 2012

Abu Dhabi:

Qatar, followed by the United Arab Emirates, currently lead the Middle East region in the overall innovation performance, according to the Global Innovation Index 2012 (GII), which is published by INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations.

The GII which came out Thursday, ranks 141 countries, including 15 economies from the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA), of which two — Qatar ranked 33rd and the United Arab Emirates ranked 37th- — are among the top 40 overall.

Leading at the top were Switzerland, Sweden and Singapore, followed by Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Hong Kong (China), Ireland, and the United States of America.

The index ranks the countries based on their innovation capabilities and results. It is calculated as the average of two sub-indices: an innovation input sub-index and an innovation output sub-index.

Karim Sabbagh, Senior Partner with Booz & Company, said what makes the ranking interesting is its the sub-indexes that show what is it we’re doing right in the formula to get an innovation output and what is still missing.

The GCC region is investing almost double what is coming in the output, Sabbagh said. “But we accept that because we’re in the early stages and like any start-up the early days are not profitable,” he said, adding that it takes at least one generation for investment in innovation to start paying off. “It’s going to take two decades for the output to match the input. It doesn’t happen overnight”

Daniela Benavente, Lead Researcher of the GII eLab at INSEAD, said that the index definitely gives an indication of how countries are expected to perform when it comes to innovation over the next few years. “If you look at the country’s economic profile, you will know where the leverage is coming from.”

When it comes to innovation outputs, Qatar, Jordan and the UAE lead the regional ranking, although they score below the top forty with Qatar at 41st place, Jordan at 46th and the UAE at 51st. Jordan ranks highest in efficiency at position 21 followed by Kuwait in 54th place out of 141 countries. Such examples from Jordan and the GCC demonstrate rising levels of innovation achievements in MENA, pointing to the need for improvement in knowledge outputs such as scientific journals and patents.

“We certainly missed the industrial revolution but one thing’s for sure we’re not missing the digital revolution. If anything we’re moving much faster than anything else,” Sabbagh said.

By Samia Badih Staff Reporter

© Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.

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