Business & Money | Sunday 27 March, 2016 4:39 pm |

As part of the UAE efforts to create a knowledge-based economy, the sixth edition of the Annual Investment Meeting, the world’s largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) - focused event, will put on discussion the Research and Development (R&D) of the public sector to encourage decision-makers and participants to give greater priority to this sector. 

 

AIM 2016 will be held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, from 11 – 13 April 2016 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

 

This comes at a time when UNESCO estimates that investments in scientific research in the world from 2007-2013 increased by 31% to USD 1.478 trillion, in light of the rise in global GDP during the same period by 20%.

 

HE Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansoori, UAE Minister of Economy revealed that the UAE occupies a leading position in this area, as reflected with the country’s first rank among the countries of the Middle East in terms of overall performance in the 2014 Global Innovation Index, published by Cornell University and the European Institute for Business Administration INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

 

HE Al Mansoori stressed that the sector still needs support in the Arab region and the world, and this is why the Higher Organizing Committee of AIM 2016 will dedicate this edition to put forward discussions on R&D to develop and strengthen this sector. “The sixth edition of AIM will identify key factors to help countries increase investment allocations in the R&D field. We were inspired by the vision of the leadership in the UAE, which call for promoting innovation and support young and talented entrepreneurs, as well as encouraging investment in the education sector, attracting leading practices through FDI that help transfer knowledge and expertise,” added HE Al Mansoori.

 

“Despite the relatively less research in R&D in the Arab region, however, some of the emerging economies were able to develop legal frameworks to ensure transfer of knowledge through FDI. We urge decision-makers to recognise the importance of R&D sector, to produce this cooperative work for concrete results in this area,” added HE Al Mansoori.

 

Investments in scientific research and development are seen as key factors to economic development, UNESCO estimates that the money spent on the Arab citizen in the field of scientific research annually do not exceed more than 14 dollars, while the spends on the American citizen and the European is more than 1,200 dollars annually. This is reflected in the size of the productivity in terms of number of published scientific research in the world to around 2,945,000 in 2012, where the share of the Arab world was 38,500 researches.

 

AIM 2016 will examine a key theme of FDI, and it will shed light on all aspects related to it. It also provides an outline of the issues related to financing and supporting the activities of this type of investment.