DUBAI — Imagine the Middle East in ten years time: one of the world’s biggest regions for technological innovation. Billions are invested into education and research and development. GCC universities are in the world’s top rankings. The huge youth population has produced thousands of highly skilled graduates who are headhunted by engineering and science firms worldwide. New cities feature advanced, next generation communications networks and every citizen is fully connected at work, home and on the move.
This is the Fertile Gulf scenario outlined by the World Economic Forum in its Arab World Competitiveness Report 2007. The other two, “Oasis” and “Sandstorm” represent stagnation and decline. But with the right investment in education and technology, enlightened government and political stability, the Middle East could become a center for innovation.
So how does the current situation compare to this vision? From a technology perspective, the Arab region is on track but has some catching up to do with the rest of the world. Internet penetration and IT skills levels are on the rise, though still less than 10 percent in some countries, and there is a significant digital divide between and within different Middle Eastern countries.
According to ITU data compiled in 2006, Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have around a third of inhabitants online. But in countries such as Algeria, only five percent of the population have Internet access. A quarter of Kuwaiti households have a computer; whereas only around 5 percent of Egyptian and Omani homes do. Regional ICT spend is around 2.87 percent of GDP, less than half the global average of 6 percent. Arab countries invest 0.2 percent of GDP in research and innovation, compared to 2.5 percent in developed countries.
The technological future is bright, despite these challenges. The Middle East recorded the world’s highest growth rate in Internet access for the past six years. Education and technology initiatives in several countries are already improving IT skills and access.
The World Economic Forum recommends that Middle Eastern governments need to make a stronger commitment to promote education. But private sector involvement is a critical part of that. Companies surveyed by the WEF cited “lack of qualified personnel” as the greatest challenge to their ability to innovate.
The obvious solution is for the private sector to play a significant role in building a highly skilled workforce in the Middle East. This needs to be done at all levels: from improving education, increasing access to technology for people of all ages, and investing in local entrepreneurs and in research and centers of excellence throughout the region.
Getting people online is another opportunity. Installing conventional wired networks is costly, particularly for countries with lower GDP per capita and large geographic areas to serve. WiMAX is an ideal solution for this, as it allows cost-effective, high speed communications to be deployed over long distances. It means that remote Middle Eastern villages can quickly be connected and given broadband Internet access, at a fraction of the cost and time of installing a landline network.
Intel has been working hard on implementing this philosophy by working with local telecom operators and ISPs. It has set up WiMAX trials across the region in cities including Riyadh — where Tahlia Street remains WiMAX-enabled, in a remote village outside Cairo and in Lebanon to enable village doctors remote access to the city hospital via tele-medicine.
The next challenge is making sure that people with lower incomes have access to affordable technology as well as the skills to use it. Through Intel’s Government assisted Purchase Programs, Intel has worked closely with the Saudi government to put computers within the reach of families, small businesses, institutions, and other users. These programs include financing and training which helps citizens reap the benefits of information and communication technology in order to more effectively compete in the global economy.
At the grass roots level, it is important to get teachers online and trained with technology so they can incorporate it into the classroom. By working with government education ministries, technology companies can help achieve this. The next challenge is to create jobs for these computer literate young people as they pass through higher education and universities. Private sector companies working with governments at a school level need to develop training programs for graduates, turning them into valuable contributors to their countries’ economies.
Private sector partnerships with universities can develop research centers that attract students from across the Middle East and even beyond, reversing current brain drains where talented students study overseas and do not return. By investing in further education, and providing opportunities for leading students, technology companies will create the skilled local workforce that they need, without having to import more expensive labor from Europe and Asia that lacks critically important Arabic language skills.
Increased connectivity and accessibility will also allow more tele-commuting and home-based work, enabling more women in particular to enter the work force. Technology can enable them to contribute to their country’s future without impacting on traditional social roles and responsibilities. They can be an integral part of the newly Fertile Gulf.
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