AT a time when the entire Middle East is looking toward a new dawn, it is good to remind ourselves of an era when inspiration, innovation and enterprise combined to make it the center of the world. The region cradled flourishing civilizations that represented the very pinnacle of human achievement. It was the Mesopotamians who first discovered the miracle of the written word about 3200 BCE. In another example, Egyptians in the third millennium BCE used their knowledge of mathematics, trigonometry and astronomy in an innovative way for designing and constructing the pyramids. Nearly 28 centuries ago, Babylon must have seemed a wonder of applied innovation – it was equipped with a system of superbly engineered moats and waterways for transport, which facilitated the city's rise as the trading and commercial capital of the ancient world until the 6th century BCE. During the Islamic Golden Age, which lasted from 750 to 1258 CE, the Arab world once again became the world's rallying point for knowledge and progress, drawing in people from all corners of the world, Muslim and non-Muslim. Baghdad was a magnet for international scholars, who descended in droves upon the renowned House of Wisdom where they sought to translate the world's knowledge into Arabic. The era also saw the rise of the Muslim scientist and polymath Ibn Al-Haytham. His most famous work is his seven volume Arabic treatise on optics, Kitab Al-Manazir, which along with his treatises on mathematics, physics, and medicine exerted a significant influence on Western science. It was also during this period, in 859 CE to be precise, that Fatima Al-Fihri, the enterprising daughter of a wealthy merchant from Tunisia travelled to Fez, Morocco, and used her inheritance to establish the University of Al-Karaouine there. To this day, it remains the oldest functioning institution of higher learning in the world, as per the Guinness Book of World Records. Prosperity as a result of innovation is very rarely an accident. It can be anecdotally argued that such achievements were the direct consequence of gifted minds whose unique ideas were identified, nurtured and progressed to completion by compatriots. Often, this was done under adequate social and cultural contexts, along with the direction of mighty monarchs and caliphs, who had the foresight, the ambition and the wherewithal to promote the brightest subjects in the realm. This, then, may have represented venture capitalism and angel investing in its primary form; the spectacular results are still evident for the world to see. History aside, the relationship between innovators and investors is symbiotic. There is a limit to which entrepreneurs and investors can keep multiplying fortunes in a scenario where most givens are constant. Disruptive and discontinuous innovations – the kind that jolt the system, thereby creating new categories of products and services, new markets and value networks – are needed to help investors power through such walls or, even better, dissolve them. In the process, innovators who are enabled may become businesspeople themselves. The dynamics of the relationship between innovator, investor and market have been established and tested over a long period of time and yet remain little understood outside of the high tech worlds of Silicon Valley and the like. They are amongst the most important tools of competitive advantage for those that understand them and know how to work with them. The most competitive organizations and economies have these dynamics built into their way of working and organizing themselves. Apple, the most highly valued company the world has ever seen, uses these techniques constantly and has done so for many years. They lead in innovation, not just in technology development, but in changing the way in which such organizations relate with their customers. They disrupt rules that are supposedly immutable and they do so in ways which others find impossible to emulate. Innovation, disruptive, discontinuous or otherwise, is not about doing things the same as everyone else; it is about establishing new ways that eventually become the norm. This was seen in the case of the Banu Musa brothers of Baghdad in the first half of the 9th century, and of Thomas Alva Edison in the late 19th and early 20th century. Not only were the Banu Musa brothers first class scientists, they were also entrepreneurs who sponsored the scientific work of their contemporaries. Similarly, not only did Edison's inventions and innovations like the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the first commercially viable electric light bulb change the world, he also went on to establish General Electric, the world's third largest company, according to Forbes Global 2000. The Middle East needs to resound with such success stories. The ground is already tilled. Encouragingly, various countries in the Middle East have formed economic clusters, such as the King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia, Dubai Internet City in the UAE, Smart Village in Egypt, and the off-shore joint-ventures in Casablanca, Rabat and Tangiers in Morocco – all government-led projects that are driving innovation by seeking to bring together talent and investment within one enabling ecosystem. While such initiatives are salutary, much must be done to strengthen the innovation-investment symbiosis in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region). This is borne out by The Global Competitiveness Index 2012-2013 released by the World Economic Forum. It features a global list of countries ranked around 12 “pillars” of competitiveness, one of which is “innovation and sophistication”. Ranks along this pillar reflect – rather disappointingly – that just three out of a total of 22 Arab countries figure in the top-30 list: Qatar (ranked 15), UAE (ranked 25), and Saudi Arabia (ranked 29). The same index throws light on reasons behind Singapore's competitiveness – lessons for our own region – which ranks second worldwide after Switzerland. It places Singapore 11th in the world in terms of “innovation and sophistication” – outstanding for a tiny nation with a population of 5.3 million! The country has its innovative base laid right: it puts great emphasis on equipping students with the skills needed in a rapidly changing global economy. Singaporean students consistently rank in the top five in the world in the two major international assessments of mathematics and science knowledge. The nation ranks fifth worldwide in terms of collaboration between its universities and industry in research and development. Of course, Singapore's world-class infrastructure, its business-friendly environment, and the government's proactive efforts to incentivize investors to mentor budding entrepreneurs also encourages the innovation cycle. There are several reasons why in our own region, gaps remain in the ecosystem that is needed to drive the interactive process between innovators and investors. For one, there is no clear pan-Arab authority that oversees the preparation of quantitative and qualitative data for the region. Such conditions of low visibility aren't particularly useful to potential investors in the current financial climate. An investor who does not see sufficient opportunities to capitalize on innovation in the Arab world – either because he has little faith in the calibre of such home-grown innovative talent or because there isn't sufficient data that would allow him to make a sound investment decision – would mean a terrible waste of opportunity indeed! Arab innovators would lose out too. They are hardly stimulated when Arab investors shy away from extending the commitment required to grow their ideas. Instead, they may very well take their talent someplace else, where both investment and mentorship would be more forthcoming. However, while it is certainly good to remember the innovative glories of the ancient Middle East, the making of an innovative society is not like riding a bicycle – if we have done it before, it is not a given that we can do it again. Such an erroneous line of complacent reasoning would deflate drive and ambition, the power behind innovation, and would cause us to fall behind in the race. With this in mind and in order to lift up young innovators, several efforts have been made to launch incubation programs that aim to stimulate start-ups. These have sprung up in countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. But few, if any, have succeeded so far in creating a comprehensive ecosystem – a one-stop shop that represents innovators, educators and investors across the Arab world. Ultimately, the question that needs to be asked is: “What do you want to be: Disruptor or disrupted?” It is those who best answer this challenge with actions that can knit together innovation theory and practice with careful yet bold investment strategies that will thrive in the turbulent future that confronts us. Only concerted action by a trifurcate alliance between the innovator, investor and the market will be able to tap into the innovative pool of talent and energize it to rise to a new level. And that is very much the need of the hour, even as a new generation of Arab youth are waiting to acquire a greater sense of pride, prosperity and contentment.
– Dr. Hayat Sindi is the Founder and President of the Saudi-based i2 Institute, a non-profit organization that is striving to create an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and social innovation for scientists, technologists and engineers in the Middle East and beyond
