IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unm/unumer/2011058.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Arab regional systems of innovation: characteristics and implications

Author

Listed:
  • Nour, Samia

    (UNU-MERIT, and Faculty of Economic and Social Studies, Khartoum University)

Abstract

This paper employs both the descriptive and comparative approaches and uses the definition of systems of innovation used in the literature to discuss the systems of innovation in the Arab region. We explain that the two common characteristics of poor Arab regional systems of innovation is apparent from both the poor subsystems of education, S&T and R&D and ICT institutions across the Arab countries and the heavy concentration of R&D activities within both public and universities sectors and very limited small contribution of the private sector in R&D activities. We find that the major implications are the poor performance of the Arab region in terms of S&T indicators, local technological capabilities, technology achievement index, increasing technological and knowledge gap and distance between the Arab region and the other advanced regions in the world and poor integration in the global knowledge economy. Therefore, the major policy implication from our analysis is that it is essential for policy making in the Arab region to confirm commitment to enhance the institutions and systems of higher education, S&T, R&D, technological infrastructure, ICT and scientific cooperation to build the Arab regional systems of innovation and to achieve economic development in the Arab region.

Suggested Citation

  • Nour, Samia, 2011. "Arab regional systems of innovation: characteristics and implications," MERIT Working Papers 2011-058, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    • Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2011058
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2011/wp2011-058.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nour, Samia Satti O. M., 2005. "Science and Technology Development Indicators in the Arab Region: A Comparative Study of Gulf and Mediterranean Arab Countries," UNU-INTECH Discussion Paper Series 2005-03, United Nations University - INTECH.
    2. Rasiah, Rajah, 2002. "TRIPs and Capability Building in Developing Economies," UNU-INTECH Discussion Paper Series 2002-01, United Nations University - INTECH.
    3. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),, 2004. "Arab Human Development Report 2003: Building a Knowledge Society," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9789211261578.
    4. Samia Satti O. M. Nour, 2002. "ICT Opportunities and Challenges for Development in the Arab World," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2002-83, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Joan Muysken & Samia Nour, 2006. "Deficiencies in education and poor prospects for economic growth in the Gulf countries: The case of the UAE," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 957-980.
    6. Kevin Morgan, 1997. "The Learning Region: Institutions, Innovation and Regional Renewal," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(5), pages 491-503.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Samia Nour, 2015. "Overview of Knowledge Economy in the Arab Region," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 6(4), pages 870-904, December.
    2. Nour, S., 2014. "Challenges and opportunities for transition to knowledge-based economy in Arab Gulf countries," MERIT Working Papers 2014-030, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    3. Nour, S., 2014. "Transition to a knowledge-based economy in Saudi Arabia," MERIT Working Papers 2014-029, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    4. Samia Nour, 2014. "Regional Systems of Innovation and Economic Structure in the Arab Region," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 5(3), pages 481-520, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nour, Samia Satti Osman Mohamed, 2013. "Regional systems of innovation in the Arab region," MERIT Working Papers 2013-012, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. Samia Nour, 2014. "Regional Systems of Innovation and Economic Structure in the Arab Region," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 5(3), pages 481-520, September.
    3. Nour, Samia Satti Osman Mohamed, 2010. "Assessment of science and technology indicators in Sudan," MERIT Working Papers 2010-062, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    4. Samia Nour, 2013. "The Incidence and Transfer of Knowledge Within the Arab Societies," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 4(4), pages 406-422, December.
    5. Nour, Samia, 2011. "The use and economic impacts of ICT at the macro-micro levels in the Arab Gulf countries," MERIT Working Papers 2011-059, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    6. Davenport, Sally, 2005. "Exploring the role of proximity in SME knowledge-acquisition," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 683-701, June.
    7. Rehák Štefan & Hudec Oto & Buček Milan, 2013. "Path dependency and path plasticity in emerging industries: Two cases from Slovakia," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 57(1-2), pages 52-66, October.
    8. Kean Birch & Andrew Cumbers, 2010. "Knowledge, Space, and Economic Governance: The Implications of Knowledge-Based Commodity Chains for Less-Favoured Regions," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(11), pages 2581-2601, November.
    9. Alexander Cordes & Ulrich Schasse, 2015. "The firm's evaluation of local research institutes and universities - an empirical analysis for Germany," ERSA conference papers ersa15p933, European Regional Science Association.
    10. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Fabrice Comptour, 2010. "Do clusters generate greater innovation and growth? An analysis of European regions," Working Papers 2010-15, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados (IMDEA) Ciencias Sociales.
    11. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Michael Storper, 2006. "Better Rules or Stronger Communities? On the Social Foundations of Institutional Change and Its Economic Effects," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 82(1), pages 1-25, January.
    12. Emil Evenhuis, 2017. "Institutional change in cities and regions: a path dependency approach," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 10(3), pages 509-526.
    13. Doloreux, David & Parto, Saeed, 2005. "Regional innovation systems: Current discourse and unresolved issues," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 133-153.
    14. Ron Boschma & Ron Martin, 2010. "The Aims and Scope of Evolutionary Economic Geography," Chapters, in: Ron Boschma & Ron Martin (ed.), The Handbook of Evolutionary Economic Geography, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Piotr Zientara, 2008. "Polish Regions in the Age of a Knowledge‐based Economy," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 60-85, March.
    16. Nour, Samia Satti Osman Mohamed, 2010. "The incidence and transfer of knowledge in the Arab countries," MERIT Working Papers 2010-064, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    17. Blind, Knut & Grupp, Hariolf, 1999. "Interdependencies between the science and technology infrastructure and innovation activities in German regions: empirical findings and policy consequences," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 451-468, June.
    18. Jesús Peiró-Palomino & Andrés J. Picazo-Tadeo, 2018. "Assessing well-being in European regions. Does government quality matter?," Working Papers 2018/06, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    19. David Rigby, 2012. "The Geography of Knowledge Relatedness and Technological Diversification in U.S. Cities," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1218, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Oct 2012.
    20. Robert Hassink & Dong-Ho Shin, 2005. "Guest Editorial," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(4), pages 571-580, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; S&T; R&D; Systems of innovation; Arab region;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2011058. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ad Notten (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/meritnl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.