Gulf Research MeetingThe economic diversification of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries is creating a growing need for diverse technologies that allow economic actors to produce energy, materials, products and services locally and move away from hydrocarbon dependence. A number of prevailing conditions, such as geographical location, demographic trends, health and education challenges and rapid expansion and diversification of GCC economies provide important socio-economic rationales for national science and technology (S&T) policies that help build national research, development and innovation (RDI) capacity, and adapt S&T to local concerns. Moreover, the move to more diversified economies will enable GCC youth to contribute to and participate in a more diversified range of employment options, including knowledge based work linked directly to the emerging RDI opportunities. However, to build competitive knowledge based economies requires a number of key ingredients to be in place. These include substantial investment in research and development (R&D), the investment in and employment of highly skilled personnel, ongoing financial support, proper legislation and policy framework, accessibility to scientific and technological information, and the existence of a socio-economic strategy to channel the results of R&D into the various sectors of the diversifying economies and societies. In the context of the globalization of technological knowledge and international flows among corporate innovation units, this workshop will explore the structure of innovation systems in the GCC and try to assess their functions and interactions at the national level. This will help delineate the contribution of different economic specializations to the innovation process, as it is at Shaping the Gulf National Innovation Systems 2 this level that some elements of policy and development strategies are planned and implemented.
3 DAYS / 10 Workshops
MORE THAN 200 ACADEMIC PAPERS
The Concept of National System of Innovation
The concept of a National System of Innovation (NIS) was developed in the middle of the 1980s and has since spread among economists, S&T policy analysts, international organizations and countries as an analytical concept, through the empirical application of which, attempts were made to discuss, understand and compare the factors behind technological change, economic development and international competitiveness in different countries. Exploring the reasons why national growth rates differ and the multiple explanations brought forward taking into consideration the differences in the science and technology research systems of different countries, the innovative capability of their production systems (Lundvall), their management of innovation (Freeman), their culturally embedded business practices, and their home markets led to the recognition of the complexity of elements that define the NSI concept or impact the formation of such a system. Historically, different approaches related to different national contexts and priorities have emerged: from a broad NSI concept that covers all aspects of learning and competence building in socio-economic activities, with emphasis on the division of productive and innovative labor, to a more focused analysis on the role of institutions and organizations involved in the promotion of science and science-based activities (Lundvall 2002). In an attempt to bring together most of the different components of the NSI concept, a synthetic definition was coined by J. Niosi, P. Saviotti, B. Bellon, and M. Crow, stressing the possible linkages among the different public and private institutions that support technical change: A national system of innovation is the system of interacting private and public firms (either large or small), universities and government agencies, aiming at the production of science and technology within national borders. Interaction among those units may be technical, commercial, legal, social and financial, inasmuch as the goal of the interaction is the development, protection, financing or regulation of new science and technology. (Niosi and al 1994 and Niosi and al 1993) The NSI concept was developed mainly in the rich countries - the US, the UK, France and Scandinavia - but interest in its analytical perspective has been growing strongly in Latin America, Asia and Africa and emphasized the idea that for less developed countries, institutions matter in the catching-up process. More research based on the NSI concept is needed in order that its empirical application in those countries affects positively the development strategies and helps stimulate policy learning (Lundvall 2002) In the context of the GCC countries efforts to build knowledge based economies, the NSI concept approach for the present workshop is to put into perspective the role of science and technology in the formation and shaping of their innovation systems. Hence, this workshop will address, as Niosi and Bellon put it, the structures through which countries conduct technological change at the level of their socio-economic institutions - such as industrial firms - and at the level of public policy for promoting innovation, which pertains to industrial and technological policy, universities, and public laboratories (Niosi and Bellon 1994)
Innovation Processes & Dynamics
According to Cutler (2008), innovation is the conversion of knowledge and ideas into a benefit, which may be in the form of new or improved products, processes or services and may be for commercial use or the public good. Innovation may be described as creating value by doing things differently; or doing something in a novel way. Simply, it is good ideas put to work. Moreover, innovation:
Is a process of continuously generating and applying new ideas;
Complements and facilitates the knowledge creation and application process;
Is one of the key drivers of economic growth;
Is essential to the competitiveness and sustainability of an economy.
Therefore, innovation is a dynamic, evolving and learning process. There are three highly interdependent components within an innovation system. But the innovation process occurs in various innovation sub-systems and it is common for technology specific innovation systems to overlap various national, regional and sectoral innovation systems (Hekkert et al, 2007, p.416). Hence, if we consider that these consist of the flows and relationships which exist among industry, government and universities in the development of science and technology, three highly interdependent components within an innovation system become evident:
Knowledge production (the origination of new knowledge and ideas);
Knowledge application (the deployment of knowledge and ideas in the real world);
Knowledge diffusion (the absorption of this applied knowledge and its adaptation in use)
