Let me start by asking this question. Is the UAE economy an innovative economy? There are many reasons that make me believe so. Among these reasons are the statements from expatriate professionals or workers who work in this country and tourists who visit, stating that the UAE is the safest place to live and work in the Middle East, the reports of international organisations such as the World Bank and the World Economic Forum affirming the right direction of the UAE economy and local and international media reporting that the UAE has the highest internet users in the Middle East and that it is one of the best countries in the world for business. Although I’m hesitant about the innovativeness of our economy, such talk and news contradict my belief.
I really enjoyed your article probably because there was alto of truth in it.I also would like to share my concerns and views and i will be posing more questions than answers.
ReplyDeletelet me start be asking what does innovation mean?i would say it is modification of an existing product and making it better or easier or more accommodating, be it a service product technology or even an idea.
having said that, congratulations to your counties in being on of the leading innovative counties in the world and i can see that every where i go while am in the UAE but i can still see your point on innovation upon you beautiful country.i think that your main concern is that most of your innovations are big bold and beautiful but for how long will this country be on top of that chat? what are people of this country doing about it?
as you said in your article"for those that have reached the innovative stage of development,adapting technologies is no longer sufficient for increase of productivity"that is very true.in my opinion the UAE still has along way to go and all that has been happening is the UAE has been catching up with the standards of the 1st world counties.the question is will the UAE surpass them? will it be able to lead and the rest follow? is there enough hope and room to do that? what will happen when this country will full catch up with the 1st world counties?
i am impressed with the level of ingenuity of this country but for how long will it survive?
DR.Alkhazraji, i believe that this country's laws and policies will be your best bet and the main key on steering UAE to greater heights.you gave examples of people like RAY KROC,MARK ZUCKERBERG and the likes,all this great innovators and you said your yet to see a great innovator well here is a story of a great inventor who's name will never appear in history.
in the year 2002/03 a young man from Nairobi KENYA came up with a great idea of how to send and receive money from the comfort of your location.he came up with something called M-PESA meaning MOBILE MONEY.at the comfort of your phone you would send and receive money.since he had not anticipated the magnitude of this product he made a bad business deal and sold this innovation to a mobile company for only 12000dhm. within the 1st year of the role out of this innovation in my home town Nairobi it was estimated that the number of transactions conducted in the same year was more than all transactions made by all banks in KENYA combined.
now the question is will UAE be a pioneer of such invention and what is being done to achieve this goal and yet it has been crowned one of the leading nations in innovations?
DR.Alkhazraji,bottom line is i like your level of standards towards your country and i believe man is innovative only when he is starved or deprived certain resources.we are born to adapt and through adaptation we create.
i still have more questions but i think this will do for now.great column
Martin Njoroge.
martin.njoroge95@yahoo.com