Support for technology start-ups in the UAE recommended
The UAE should provide more assistance to early-stage technology-based start-ups that serve as a “crucial bridge” between academia and industry, according to recommendations offered by UAE innovation experts.
The recommendations are part of the summary and recommendations report from the UAE Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship that was held in Abu Dhabi in April 2013. The event was jointly organised by Masdar Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). More than 200 speakers, panelists, and guests whose diversity mirrors the complex ecosystem for innovation in the region, participated in the forum.
The forum resulted in nine recommendations to provide a strong foundation for innovation in the UAE. They include strengthening each stakeholder group in the UAE innovation ecosystem, establishing a unique “brand” of innovation in the UAE, designing industry-specific innovation policies to accelerate innovation, developing new innovation hubs modeled on free zones, building on the strength of the country’s diversity, modifying rules and regulations as needed to ensure that they do not dampen innovation, establishing a greater UAE government role in research funding, promoting the formation of small technology companies to serve as the crucial bridge between university research and commercial products and services, and improving stakeholder coordination within the UAE innovation ecosystem. A copy of the full report is available on-line at www.masdar.ac.ae/research/research-centers/icenters-research/cise.
“The recommendations convey the need to urgently tackle the challenges to innovation currently being faced by countries such as the UAE. In order to build a knowledge-based economy and create new wealth as directed by the UAE leadership, a different style of entrepreneurship will be needed. We hope these recommendations will play an important role in facilitating the development of a community that thrives on innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Dr. Fred Moavenzadeh, President of Masdar Institute.
Dr. Lita Nelsen, Director, Licensing, MIT, said: “Small companies provide a critical bridge for transferring technology, developing university intellectual property to the point it becomes useful to large companies. Large companies play an important role in sponsoring university research, giving vital direction to research and development. But even in such industry-directed research programmes, product development still takes place in small companies.”
A survey of the forum’s audience found 72 per cent believed that universities should advise their graduates to be entrepreneurs, while 76 per cent believed that lack of success of a technology-based start-up would not hinder future job prospects for an entrepreneur. At the same time, participants expressed their willingness to pay higher prices in order to encourage innovation, with 61 per cent expressing willingness to pay more for petrol and electricity to encourage alternative energy.
The UAE should provide more assistance to early-stage technology-based start-ups that serve as a "crucial bridge" between academia and industry, according to recommendations offered by UAE innovation experts. The recommendations are part of the summary and recommendations report from the UAE Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship that was held in Abu Dhabi in April 2013. The event was jointly organised by Masdar Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). More than 200 speakers, panelists, and guests whose diversity mirrors the complex ecosystem for innovation in the region, participated in the forum. The forum resulted in nine recommendations to provide...
The UAE should provide more assistance to early-stage technology-based start-ups that serve as a “crucial bridge” between academia and industry, according to recommendations offered by UAE innovation experts.
The recommendations are part of the summary and recommendations report from the UAE Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship that was held in Abu Dhabi in April 2013. The event was jointly organised by Masdar Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). More than 200 speakers, panelists, and guests whose diversity mirrors the complex ecosystem for innovation in the region, participated in the forum.
The forum resulted in nine recommendations to provide a strong foundation for innovation in the UAE. They include strengthening each stakeholder group in the UAE innovation ecosystem, establishing a unique “brand” of innovation in the UAE, designing industry-specific innovation policies to accelerate innovation, developing new innovation hubs modeled on free zones, building on the strength of the country’s diversity, modifying rules and regulations as needed to ensure that they do not dampen innovation, establishing a greater UAE government role in research funding, promoting the formation of small technology companies to serve as the crucial bridge between university research and commercial products and services, and improving stakeholder coordination within the UAE innovation ecosystem. A copy of the full report is available on-line at www.masdar.ac.ae/research/research-centers/icenters-research/cise.
“The recommendations convey the need to urgently tackle the challenges to innovation currently being faced by countries such as the UAE. In order to build a knowledge-based economy and create new wealth as directed by the UAE leadership, a different style of entrepreneurship will be needed. We hope these recommendations will play an important role in facilitating the development of a community that thrives on innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Dr. Fred Moavenzadeh, President of Masdar Institute.
Dr. Lita Nelsen, Director, Licensing, MIT, said: “Small companies provide a critical bridge for transferring technology, developing university intellectual property to the point it becomes useful to large companies. Large companies play an important role in sponsoring university research, giving vital direction to research and development. But even in such industry-directed research programmes, product development still takes place in small companies.”
A survey of the forum’s audience found 72 per cent believed that universities should advise their graduates to be entrepreneurs, while 76 per cent believed that lack of success of a technology-based start-up would not hinder future job prospects for an entrepreneur. At the same time, participants expressed their willingness to pay higher prices in order to encourage innovation, with 61 per cent expressing willingness to pay more for petrol and electricity to encourage alternative energy.
