Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum 2010 Realises Government Vision Of A Knowledge-Based Economy

Forum opens in the presence of Minister of Economy HE Eng Sultan Al Mansoori

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The first Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum 2010, a unique event that tackles how innovative cultures drive economic success, has successfully commenced under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court and in the presence of His Excellency Engineer Sultan Al Mansoori, Minister of Economy.

Entitled, “Building an Innovative Culture”, the forum convened heads of top organisations from the UAE Capital led by His Excellency Abdullah Al Ahbabi, Assistant Secretary General, General Secretariat of Abu Dhabi Executive Council, who delivered the opening keynote address; His Excellency Dr. Ahmed Khalil Al Mutawa, Chief Executive Officer, Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development and His Excellency Ali Saeed Bin Harmal Al Dhaheri, Abu Dhabi University Chairman among others.

Dr. Nabil Ibrahim, Chancellor of Abu Dhabi University gave the welcoming address where he stressed the unique opportunity where the government is very well represented and is in collaboration between the corporate community, the universities and the research centre in developing innovation. More than 150 delegates attended the event to hear from a distinguished line-up of keynote speakers and global innovators who presented strategic presentations and practical knowledge on innovation.

Talking about innovation and knowledge-based economy in the UAE, Dr. Al Ahbabi, said during his speech; “The Executive Council is a champion for building a sustainable knowledge-based economy, which will become one of the pillars of the Abu Dhabi Vision and a key focus area within the Policy Agenda 2030. We have identified and adopted the world’s best practices to assist our evolution into a diversified knowledge-based economy.

“Building a sustainable knowledge-based economy is a critical mechanism to drive economic growth, without incurring large population increases that could impact both the emirate’s demographic mix and its environment. It requires and reinforces the human capital development of the population,” he said.

Dr. Al Ahbabi furthered, “Through the Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum, we are provided with proven innovations from international speakers and company breakthroughs by which all sectors in the UAE can emulate and radically transform their business outlooks in the future. We, at the government, will play an essential role in implementing and revolutionising such policies and mechanisms that reflect innovative processes. The Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum serves as a critical platform in building a culture and environment conducive to innovation and the knowledge-based society.”

The forum was made specifically for local businesses and associations, academic and government heads from all sectors responsible for building a culture of innovation.

Meanwhile, Dr. Al Mutawa said, “The launch of the Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum signifies the importance that Abu Dhabi’s government places on developing the seeds of innovation values to make them not only a culture but a permanent drive of all segments of its nationals. This event is considered a unique opportunity for the local minds to support innovation and its aspects, to harness the energy for greater efforts, and to encourage nationals to adopt innovation as part of their daily lives. We wish all participants and attendees a fruitful outcome in achieving the goals that have brought them all together in this forum of innovation.”

During the first session, world-renowned innovator Professor Arcot Desai Narasimhalu, Director of Innovation & Entrepreneurship and Chairman of The Business Innovation Generator, Singapore Management University, discussed about successful innovations that can be used to benchmark and qualify new innovations. He also presented studies on how to approach and identify innovations in a systematic manner.

The first company to be profiled was Microsoft, wherein the company’s general manager in the Gulf Charbel Fakhoury presented it as an innovation blueprint of success. Imparting the global company’s innovative processes which made it to become the worldwide leader in software, Fakhoury shared how innovators can be encouraged and developed in the society.

“The Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum addresses the objectives of the Abu Dhabi 2030 Economic Vision which calls for incorporating innovation in all sectors of economy. Through proven innovations brought by international speakers and company breakthroughs, Abu Dhabi can emulate these and achieve its vision to become one of the top five world’s best governments,” said Al Dhaheri.

The second presentation by Dr. Thomas Andersson, President, International Organisation for Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development (IKED) tackled that through measuring and comparing the Natural Resources Rich Economies’ (NREs) innovation and knowledge management, they can gauge up to what extent Abu Dhabi is confronted with a gap in terms of unfulfilled potential for innovation and growth. He also discussed international rankings of innovation performance including assessment what practical steps the UAE capital can take to allow innovation to flourish.

Dr. John Bell, Head of Strategy and Partnerships, Royal Philips, explained the steps in Open Innovation based on the tried and tested formulas from Philips Research. He shared two ways to practice Open Innovation, which is to incorporate external world into your own organisation and open up internal organisation for external world, including a presentation of the pros and cons of both ways.

During the second half of the forum, a panel discussion led by Narasimhalu has examined what infrastructure is needed to produce innovation which showed cases from Silicon Valley to Singapore. Other topics included in the discussion were access to financing, creation of ethos of opening and sharing among firms and how research infrastructures and universities function as cradles of innovation.

Furthermore, Kamal Hassan, Chief Executive Officer of Innovation 360, led the practical workshop for systematic innovation as a predictable force for business and government transformation. He explained how to identify innovation opportunities, generate internal and external ideas and implement innovative solutions that works in all times.

For the second day of the forum, other line-up of speakers consists of Dr. Hal Gregersen, Professor of Leadership, INSEAD and Author of ‘The Innovator’s DNA’; Professor Peter Hiscocks from Judge Business School, University of Cambridge; Khurram Hamid, Head of Mobile Marketing at Procter & Gamble Global; Mohammed Zaqout, EVP and Head of Personal Banking at Al Hilal Bank; and Ali Al Saloom, Cofounder of OneTVO and a Cultural Expert Presenter.
 

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