The leading business school in Europe has named the UAE the most innovative country in the Middle East, citing its robust technology infrastructure and high-quality education system.
The UAE rose two spots this year to rank as the 24th most innovative country in the world, said Soumitra Dutta, the Roland Berger professor of business and technology at INSEAD and the author of the annual Global Innovation Index (GII) report that was released yesterday.
"There's a lot of creativity in the area. There's a lot of innovation happening in different ways than you might think," Mr Dutta said.
"If you look at what Abu Dhabi is doing with Saadiyat Island and Dubai's various knowledge clusters, there might not be any patentable technology innovations per se, but they create value-adding changes in society at large."
Mr Dutta said the index used a broader definition of innovation, other than just looking at investments in research and development (R&D) or the amount of patents published.
It dealt with parameters such as patents per million of population, publication of scientific journals, R&D expenditure, GDP output, market sophistication and the political environment.
Elsewhere in the region, Kuwait's GII ranking fell three spots to 33rd; Qatar dropped 11 places to 35th and Bahrain lost six places to rank 40th.
"GCC countries appear to be very concerned about changing the structures of their economies and diversifying away from oil," Mr Dutta said. "
In effect, that means to move into more knowledge-based sectors.
"This becomes absolutely vital because if you don't innovate, don't create knowledge, don't create ideas, there is little hope for you to compete on the global stage."
The UAE scored high marks in the index's technology infrastructure, investment in education, and knowledge application rankings, finishing eighth, 15th and third worldwide respectively.
"What you find is that a lot of enabling conditions [for innovation] is pretty strong in the UAE," Mr Dutta said.
"That leads me to believe that the production of innovative output is going to continue."
But he said the Emirates still had plenty of room to improve, pointing to the lack of press freedom in the country, the "bureaucratic burdens" in setting up a business and regulatory controls. Mr Dutta gave an example of how some Scandinavian countries and Singapore had built a strong infrastructure for creating innovative products and services, by continuously investing in its human capital.
"The overall message is the UAE has put a lot of effort in enabling the conditions required for innovation, now it has to push forward on creating more output," he said.
"If you're weak in one or two enabling pillars of innovation, such as regulations or scientific institutions, you will perhaps not be able to get the right return of investments in this area."
Several ventures in the UAE aimed at improving the level of entrepreneurship and R&D in the country, such as new programmes by the Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for Small and Medium Size Enterprises, and Technopark, a free zone based in Jebel Ali, are already under way.
Other schemes to change the regulatory structure of how to start a business, as well as new bankruptcy legislation, are expected this year.
Saudi Arabia notably fell 22 rankings to 54th place, due to a shift in the weighting of how a country's creative output factors in this year's index.
"Saudi Arabia has a long way to improve," Mr Dutta said. "A lot of its knowledge outputs are pretty weak."
@Email:dgeorgecosh@thenational.ae
MATCH INFO
Bangla Tigers 108-5 (10 ovs)
Ingram 37, Rossouw 26, Pretorius 2-10
Deccan Gladiators 109-4 (9.5 ovs)
Watson 41, Devcich 27, Wiese 2-15
Gladiators win by six wickets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
((Disclaimer))
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The design
The protective shell is covered in solar panels to make use of light and produce energy. This will drastically reduce energy loss.
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed by the French pavilion will be produced by the sun.
The architecture will control light sources to provide a highly insulated and airtight building.
The forecourt is protected from the sun and the plants will refresh the inner spaces.
A micro water treatment plant will recycle used water to supply the irrigation for the plants and to flush the toilets. This will reduce the pavilion’s need for fresh water by 30 per cent.
Energy-saving equipment will be used for all lighting and projections.
Beyond its use for the expo, the pavilion will be easy to dismantle and reuse the material.
Some elements of the metal frame can be prefabricated in a factory.
From architects to sound technicians and construction companies, a group of experts from 10 companies have created the pavilion.
Work will begin in May; the first stone will be laid in Dubai in the second quarter of 2019.
Construction of the pavilion will take 17 months from May 2019 to September 2020.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
Fixtures
Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs
Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms
Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles
Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon
Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon
How it works
Each player begins with one of the great empires of history, from Julius Caesar's Rome to Ramses of Egypt, spread over Europe and the Middle East.
Round by round, the player expands their empire. The more land they have, the more money they can take from their coffers for each go.
As unruled land and soldiers are acquired, players must feed them. When a player comes up against land held by another army, they can choose to battle for supremacy.
A dice-based battle system is used and players can get the edge on their enemy with by deploying a renowned hero on the battlefield.
Players that lose battles and land will find their coffers dwindle and troops go hungry. The end goal? Global domination of course.
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Croatia v Hungary, Thursday, 10.45pm, UAE
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
DUNGEONS%20%26%20DRAGONS%3A%20HONOR%20AMONG%20THIEVES
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Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics
TO%20CATCH%20A%20KILLER
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
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12%20restaurants%20opening%20at%20the%20hotel%20this%20month
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