Formation of startups and new companies
Commercial exploitation of science, technology, and novelty
System of laws, regulations, strategies, and funding priorities
Discovery and creation of new knowledge of the natural world
Technological Advancements in the world.
By:Athar OsamaPublished on SciDev.Net on 12 September 2012
Efforts to build innovation systems are too government-centric and tend to ignore a key ingredient — the private sector, says Athar Osama.
Recent years have seen a number of Islamic countries embarking on efforts to create and strengthen innovation ‘ecosystems’. But their delivery record has been mixed.
A couple of years ago, Malaysia created Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM), under the Prime Minister’s office, to bridge the gaps in its innovation system. And plans are afoot in the United Arab Emirates to create an innovation agency to supplement or replace its Technology Development Committee (TDC). While in Pakistan, efforts to create the Pakistan Innovation Initiative (PII) have run into serious difficulties.
These initiatives attempt to address flaws that include the decades-long focus on science at the expense of innovation or commercialisation, and a tendency to overlook informal innovative activity, among others.
But the most important failing of the traditional approach to innovation systems in the Islamic world has been its inability to bring the private sector on board.
With the exception of Malaysia and Turkey, private sector participation in science and innovation is sub-optimal or virtually non-existent. Private-sector research and development (R&D) laboratories, which were established as an organisational form in the West in early 20th century, do not exist in most of the Islamic world.
What’s the problem?
Many recent efforts to create innovation systems in the Islamic world appear too government-centric to allow the private sector to get significantly involved. In addition, the centralised and top-down paradigm of development planning that operates in many developing countries leaves little room for initiative and genuine dialogue between stakeholders.
In the absence of dialogue, the private sector is forced into a corner, unable to contribute as a true partner for development.
Feb 3 — Prof. Emeritus Dato’ Sri Dr. Zakri Abdul Hamid, the Science Advisor to the Prime Minister and Joint Chairman of the Malaysian Industry-Government Group on High Technology (MIGHT), was announced as one of the winners of the world’s most prestigious environment prize on February 1, 2014 in Dubai.
The Zayed International Prize for Environment was established in 1999 by Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, United Arab Emirates Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. Named after a great statesman and a dedicated environmentalist, the Zayed International Prize for the Environment is meant to recognise and encourage environmental achievements...
By: Maheen Hasan, Editor - Muslim-Science.Com
Muslim-Science.Com has the pleasure of presenting to you, the first ever List of ‘Top-20 Most Influential Women in Science in the Islamic World’. These are truly the unsung and little known heroines of the Islamic World whose contribution to the development of science and innovation of the Islamic World is no less than any others…
Our list encompasses 20 Remarkable Women who have performed amazing feats during the course of their careers. These pertain to all five main regions of the Islamic World, namely, South East Asia, South and Central Asia, Gulf and Persia, Maghreb and North Africa, and North Am...
By the Editors of Muslim-Science.com
Human brains are hardwired to see patterns in things. This makes life easy for man as it allows him (or her) to conserve on processing power. Often these patterns manifest themselves in the form of stereotypes. Scientists are referred to as ‘nerds’, academics as ‘absent-minded’, and policy-makers as ‘wonks’. Our society and culture is full of stereotypes. A number of these stereotypes affect women in particular. Women are often portrayed or reflected as doing certain kinds of things and not others. For instance, they’re hardly portrayed as scientists. It is common to show them as dental hygienist but never as dentists...
The Islamic world’s current science effort is on life support and without major ‘surgery’ could be yet another policy failure, says Athar Osama.
In 2007, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) created the Science, Technology and Innovation Organisation (STIO) to jumpstart science cooperation among its 57 member countries. Three years later, a founding meeting approved an annual budget of US$70 million, with four founding members — Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and and Syria — committing US$5 million each to the budget.
To date, 20 countries have joined STIO — but none has honoured its financial commitment, according to the organisatio...
By Zakri Abdul Hamid –
Science Adviser to the Prime Minister of Malaysia
For Malaysia, the past three decades have been a period of rapid and sustained growth. Measuring growth with the traditional Gross Domestic Product yardstick, Malaysia’s economy has increased more than a hundredfold. Over the past four decades, we have averaged nearly 7% annual growth. Poverty rates have fallen from 49%, to less than 4%. Per-capita GDP has risen from US$370, to more than US$9,000.
This growth has been matched by a fundamental change in the structure of our economy. Like many Asian countries, we have moved from a basis of agriculture and raw commodities to a multi-sector eco...
By: Dr. Athar Osama
Muslim-Science.Com met with Tan Sri Dr. Omar Abdur Rahman, Mahathir’s Science Advisor for over a decade and half and, the “prime mover” behind Mahathir Mohammed’s vision of a Knowledge-driven Malaysia. A deeply humble man, Tan Sri Omar insists that Mahathir was a science policymaker par excellence in his own right and that he would hardly have needed a science advisor. However, he played a critical role in providing scientific credibility to Mahathir’s plans and helping the Prime Minister reach out to the scientific community to build support for his policies.
As Malaysia’s first and longest serving Science Advisor – a position t...
