By H.E. Mr Abdalla Hamdan Mohammed Ahmed Alnaqbi, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Under the direction of President H.H Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the cabinet of the United Arab Emirates approved the naming of 2015 The Year of Innovation in a special meeting convened on 30 November 2014.
His Highness Sheikh Khalifa stressed that the UAE is giving the utmost priority to innovate, saying, “We live today in a world witnessing rapid changes and continuous developments, full of opportunities, discoveries and invention. Announcing 2015 as the Year of Innovation comes to support federal government efforts, attract national skills, increase distinguished research, as well as boost efforts to build a national cadre who are able to lead our future in this field towards more progress, prosperity and innovation.”
The declaration follows the launch of the National Innovation Strategy in October 2014, by H.H Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice president and Prime Minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai. The strategy aims to make the Emirates the most innovative country in the world by 2021.
Focusing on seven sectors of the economy — renewable energy, transport, education, health, technology, water and space — the National Innovation Strategy involves 30 initiatives to be completed within three years, including new legislation, innovation incubators, investment in specialized skills, private-sector incentives, international research partnerships, and an innovation drive within the government.
After launching the strategy last year, H.H Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said, “Today, more than any other time, we need to boost innovation among young people, build nurturing environments in our society, and encourage our schools and universities to equip our youth with skills in research and discovery methodologies. We want our public and private sectors to explore new horizons to develop our economy. Innovation is our only way to build a great history of the UAE. The future will be for those who adopt innovation.”
Current annual investment in innovation is Dhs14 billion (approximately $4 billion), of which Dhs7 billion goes to research and development. Even so, under the new initiative, spending on innovation will increase significantly. This may seem ambitious, but that is nothing new for a nation renowned for its daring projects and home to the richest city in the world, Abu Dhabi.
“The UAE is already the most innovative Arab nation. Our target is to be among the most innovative nations in the world. The competitiveness race demands a constant flow of new ideas, as well as innovative leadership using different methods and tools to direct the change,” said Sheikh Mohammed.
Thus far, the UAE’s booming economy has been reliant on petroleum products: oil-related activities accounted for 49.38% of its total GDP in 2009. To develop the country, the UAE has spent billions of dollars from oil income on infrastructure and construction. Much of this development has been intangible, but many projects have contributed to the UAE’s worldwide reputation for daring greatly: Khalifa Tower, the tallest skyscraper in the world, Ski Dubai, a state-of-the-art indoor ski slope, the man-made Palm Islands and World Islands, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, and other spectacular structures.
Yet the leadership of the UAE is well aware of the unsustainability of depending on one source of national income. With the infrastructure and urban environments now largely completed, the UAE has developed the Vision 2021 plan to diversify the economy by 2021 through expansion of a number of new industries.
Vision 2021 aims to “transform the UAE economy into a model where growth is driven by knowledge and innovation.”
The focus on cultivating innovation — the ability to achieve change that creates a new dimension of performance — is meant to support this economic diversification, and cultural barriers to innovation, such as fear of failure and an aversion to taking risks, are starting to diminish in the UAE. According to research, 71% of UAE millennials (those 35 years old or younger) currently have entrepreneurial aspirations.
Another essential element of an innovative ecosystem is fostering and supporting these young entrepreneurs, accomplished in the UAE via more than 10 incubators and accelerators, a substantial increase from the 3 active in 2008. These include in5 (in Dubai Internet City), Turn8 (by DP World), i360 accelerator, Silicon Oasis Founders, SeedStartup, Endeavor, twofour54’s Ibtikar, afkar.me, the First Steps Business Center, and the Dubai SME (small-to-medium enterprises) Business Incubation Center. These incubators and accelerators offer a variety of mentorship and business support services for UAE nationals and immigrants alike. SeedStartup, for example, brings international start-ups to a three-month acceleration programme held in Dubai.
The government has undertaken many initiatives to support the funding of innovation. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority´s ICT Fund aims to drive the country’s ICT sector by providing R&D funding, scholarships for students of ICT engineering programmes, and support for incubators. Additionally, the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development (with approximately $550 million in capital) aims to develop local SME´s in Abu Dhabi by providing microfinance and start-up loans and by supporting entrepreneurs with training programmes.
Meanwhile, the government continues to revise economic policies and the institutional framework to empower the private sector and to strengthen foreign investment. One recently revised policy is a new law opening the door for innovation-based companies operating in specific activities defined under the law to benefit from the 100% ownership, tax-free, and other benefits regulated by the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone. The establishment of free zones specially tailored for innovation-based companies that invest heavily in research and development activities in both the public and private sectors is a vital step in fostering innovation goal attracting SMEs from all over the world.
In our pursuit of international partnerships in support of innovation, the UAE Embassy in The Hague works with our Dutch counterpart to strengthen our ties and explore every possibility for collaboration. One cooperative project is Gas Storage Bergermeer, a collaboration between UAE Energy Company TAQA and Royal Dutch Shell, which opened in April and is Europe’s largest open access gas storage, contributing to security of supply, the energy transition, and lower energy prices for the people of Northwest Europe.
For 2015, we are exploring ways to increase our cooperation. The Netherlands is renowned for its educational institutes that focus on innovation, such as Wageningen University and TU Delft. To learn from their experience and reputable research, we invite the possibility for future collaboration in pursuit of innovation in the sectors of agriculture, technology and technological research with these institutes. In addition, we are working with multiple Dutch ministries and institutes to reach out to Dutch SMEs to explore benefits and accessibility to the UAE market.
We are determined not to leave any stone unturned as we explore possibilities for innovation in all sectors and we will continue to work with our Dutch and other international partners to achieve this goal.
