UAE up six places on Global Innovation Index

The UAE is up six places and first among Arab countries and in the 2016 Global Innovation Index, up from 47th to 41st position. 

The Global Innovation Index measured the performance of 128 countries and economies in the area of ​​innovation which represents the majority of the global workforce and global GDP. The 2016 index is based on 82 sub-indices which measure innovation in detail and provide a clear understanding of how it drives economic growth and prosperity.

Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, said that innovation is a major pillar in advancing the state’s economic development and is at the heart of good government policies aimed at making the UAE among the top 10 countries in the world on the Global Innovation Index by the Golden Jubilee of the Union, in line with UAE Vision 2021.

Al Mansouri added that the latest Global Innovation Index, which has further strengthened the UAE’s regional leadership, is consistent with the innovation-related trends and efforts exerted by the state, particularly over the past few years. Innovation has become an integral part of the successful performance and competitiveness of the UAE, in terms of both public and private sector activities.

The Global Innovation Index 2016 sub-indices showed that the country ranked first globally in the cost of redundancy dismissal, ease of paying taxes, tertiary inbound mobility and state of cluster development.

The report also said that one of the main contributors to the overall progress made by the UAE on the Global Innovation Index this year is the robust improvement in the outputs sub-index across a number of important sectors.

In his comment on the detailed results, Al Mansouri indicated that in light of the general slowdown in the global economy, the trend of many countries to cut spending on research, development and the areas of innovation and with carefully considering the details of sub-indices of the report, which has an internationally great credibility, especially those that measure market sophistication and investment and credit conditions in the areas of innovation, the business sophistication, R&D activities and advanced manufacturing as well as technology, knowledge and innovation outputs, all of this, by all standards, puts the UAE in front of an extraordinary result that reflects major and continuing efforts exerted by the UAE to enhance its innovation environment.

He said: "The UAE focuses on building its capabilities and legislative environment to ensure the launch of a potential wealth of creative energies that fall in line with the national strategy for innovation, which emphasizes the important role of innovation, research and science in establishing a high-productivity knowledge-competitive economy, moving the country to a new phase spreading the culture of innovation among individuals, government institutions and private sector companies, and building human capital provided with the best international expertise in various development fields--particularly those identified to lead the journey of innovation, namely, clean renewable energy, transportation, technology, education, health, water and space."

Follow @BusinessRevME

Read the August 2016 issue of Business Review Middle East magazine