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
Application of new knowledge towards useful social ends
The last two centuries have reduced global hunger, poverty, and disease in ways that were previously unimaginable. The accelerating pace of technological development — computing, the Internet, the information and genetic engineering revolutions — only promises greater progress in coming decades.
But getting these developments to the people who need them is far from an exact science, as recent development experience has shown . For example, mechanisms for producing clean drinking water exist, but people continue to die of waterborne diseases, while millions — if not billions — go hungry, despite the fact that we have the capacity to eradicate world hunger.
On the one hand, technological innovation is a by-product of social processes; but on the other, an understanding of technology’s social dimension, and the context in which it must operate, is critical to deriving value from it.
Ideas, not ICTs
Jelel Ezzine, a cybernetics professor and director-general of international cooperation at Tunisia’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, cautions against “overestimating the role of technology as the original cause of [a] change”.
Growth of Science & Innovation in the Muslim World
By Marianne De Nazareth, Freelance Journalist – India
Published on OnIslam on 08 August 2012 00:00
When they return they get meager salaries, as low as $500 a month, so they are forced to take side jobs to survive.
We have a lot of stereotypes among of which is that Muslim women are repressed and do not get a chance to reach their full potential in their chosen fields, especially in the science fora. The session on the growth of science in the Islamic world, at the Euroscience Open Forum 2012 in Dublin, sounded intriguing and interesting for me as a a woman science journalist.
The topic being...
By: Hazem Badr
Published on SciDev.Net on 18 January 2012
There has been a surge in public interest in science as the route to recovery
[CAIRO] Scientists have been reflecting on the astonishing gains that the Egyptian revolution has delivered them, as the first anniversary of Egypt’s Tahrir Square uprising approaches next week (25 January).
Over the past year, the science budget has increased by more than a third, salaries have risen and plans have been made for a science and technology city.
“Change has begun on both financial and administrative levels,” Maged El-Sherbiny, president of the Academy of Scientific Research and Techn...
By: Mićo Tatalović
Published on 25 January 2012
Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan of Jordan talks to SciDev.Net about hopes for science in the Middle East, science diplomacy and the role of women scientists.
Members of royal families around the world often express support for science, but Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan of Jordan stands out for taking a particularly close and active interest.
She is a founder and president of the El Hassan Science City, president of Jordan’s Royal Scientific Society and chair of the board of trustees of the Princess Sumaya University for Technology. She has also recently helped set up a science and technology collaborat...
By: Athar Osama
Published on SciDev.Net on 15 December 2011
Arab Spring revolutionaries turning to governance must adopt knowledge and innovation as barometers for progress, says Athar Osama.
As revolutions swept countries and shook governments across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region this year, they created opportunities for greater public voice in governance. Tunisia, for example, recently went through an election, and the Egyptian people are in the process of electing an assembly whose job is to write a new constitution.
And as revolutionaries turn to governance, they will have to address the socioeconomic and cultural challenges facing ten...
By:Athar Osama
Published on SciDev.Net on 12 October 2012
Muslim countries must alter their stance on the social sciences if they are to use technology to its full potential, says Athar Osama.
The last two centuries have reduced global hunger, poverty, and disease in ways that were previously unimaginable. The accelerating pace of technological development — computing, the Internet, the information and genetic engineering revolutions — only promises greater progress in coming decades.
But getting these developments to the people who need them is far from an exact science, as recent development experience has shown . For example, mechanisms for producing c...
By: Frank Lehner
Published in Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy on 30 August 2011.
The idea of generating solar energy on a large scale in the sun-intensive countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to satisfy their own increasing energy demand and to export surplus energy to Europe as advocated in the DESERTEC concept1 has publicly received much attention in some countries, particularly in Germany, Morocco, Tunisia, and also substantial support from their governments. Besides the DESERTEC Foundation, an industrial consortium (Dii GmbH) was founded in 2009 which consists of major European and MENA companies to push this project further b...
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...
