Collaborative innovation is essential in improving global competitiveness and fostering harmony, said Sam Hamdan, chairman & chief strategist of the Global Leadership Team and architect of WSIE (World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship). In an interview with the Saudi Gazette ahead of the three-day summit in Dubai starting Tuesday (today), Hamdan said “innnovation itself is about sharing, testing, prototyping, learning and adjusting. The only assurance we have is to trust the process and the inherent risks of creativity and co-existence. Innovation produces a culture of learners and winners-and not a culture of losers and winners. “Collaborative innovation is about bringing communities of thoughts and actions to shape the future of a child, of women, of a product, or an experience for years to come.” Asked about the sectors of the global economy that need innovative practices to minimize, if not completely solve, the problems that the global markets are confronted with at present, he said the social innovation is critical to the sustainability and well-being of enterprises, sectors and society at large. People must invent and innovate with a higher purpose in mind, beyond profitability, he stressed. Profitability and development can co-exist. “The global market needs a soul-and that soul needs to be inspired by the humanity of every aspiring entrepreneur and established enterprise. Once that exists, profitability persists.” Regarding urgent innovations that should be adopted in the Arab world to narrow down the gap between the rich and the poor, he quoted the World Bank finding that says 100 million job opportunities need to be created by the year 2015. “The question for our governments in the Arab world, ‘is there any published program in the region that will give us the hope of getting anywhere near that objective?' The answer is not - leading some of the region's youth to go wayward.” He said that the situation calls for higher levels of collaboration among the region's private sector and calls for governments' more innovative investments in education, open policies, economic diversification, in order to create new and more employment opportunities for youth, reinvest oil wealth in technology, manufacturing and tourism industries, improve the self-confidence and hope of children around the region, and ignite the imagination of a new generation of leadership. He added that the summit “offers leaders an experience, a performance, a theatrical environment that blends inspiration and actions to encourage them to innovate and collaborate.” “My view of the world is simple -if we can invent together, we can live together,” he pointed out. On what he wanted to achieve in the summit under the theme “Our future, inspired by innovation,” Hamdan said the gathering aims to leverage such diverse perspectives to inspire the thoughts and actions of all who will attend to better their personal lives, their businesses, their partnerships and their contribution to a better future for all. On the issue of private sector's role and responsibilities, he said the sector must be the primary catalyst for development, collaboration and competitiveness. They must drive the development of the middle class in our societies. “What makes America powerful is not its foreign or domestic polices, sadly to say, but the boiling dynamism of its middle class. The private sector in developing nations and emerging economies must continue to step up to fund ideas, entrepreneurs, open up their culture borders and demand change from governments.” On the growing participation of Arab women in building a stronger economy, he said the Arab world can only become competitive if it involves more than 50 percent of its population across all walks of society, from government to education, to business and the arts, in driving its social, spiritual and economic well-being. “The question is, what do Arab women see for Arab men in this region? We tried it the other way around for the past 100 years. It's time to get a new perspective.” Moreover, Hamdan said the spiritual and social dimension of people from all walks of life is what will guarantee peace and stability around the world. “Our role is to promote the development of intellect and not only intelligence. We must awaken the inner spiritual and social innovator in every entrepreneur around the globe, to rejuvenate their sense of purpose and higher moral order – to understand and judge the applications of their inventions and innovations for the benefit of humanity,” he noted. Moreover, he underscored the role of the government sector, saying that “governments must only provide the regulatory infrastructure and innovative policies that put citizens, entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators at the center of their policies, and get out of the way.” On the role of newly discovered innovations in a complicated environment replete with “mistrust and abuses,” he said: “Change is the only constant in life. Innovation has proved to be the key to positive change throughout history... it will always be about value creation for consumers, citizens, partners, and so on.. So, every invention leading to an innovation must be about value creation regardless of the origin, culture, identity, religion or birth.” Hamdan was optimistic about the possible outcome of the summit, saying that “once you lose hope, you lose your identity. I am always optimistic about the spiritual and social capacity of people who are willing and committed to shape the future of our world.” He added that the summit is bringing together some of the most innovative people from 75 nations to share diverse perspectives, dispute the facts, and take measureable steps toward the involvement of the private sector to propose solutions that will solve the most pressing issues facing humanity. __
