Abu Dhabi:
Innovation in the UAE, especially in the field of technology, can inspire innovation across the region, according to Bernard Meyerson, chief innovation officer and vice-president at IBM, the US-based technology corporation.
Speaking at a panel discussion on Monday at the World Economic Forum’s Summit on Global Agenda, Meyerson said that while many countries in the Middle East are likely to face difficulties in innovation, “success [in the UAE] can breed other success.”
This can eventually set the pace for growing innovation in the region.
“Sitting here in Abu Dhabi and having been involved in the council’s work in prior years… I will tell you that I have not looked at an environment that is actually so conducive to driving innovation and so supportive of it as a national endeavour [as the UAE’s].
“You win by example. Not every government will leap in and make this possible but I have seen exemplary behaviour by those who govern here and support this kind of move into a highly innovative society – one that can actually lead this fourth industrial revolution,” he said.
Meyerson added that countries not currently looking at boosting innovation will have to do so or risk being left behind. “It just takes one person to lead that race to drag others along. It won’t be easy, and there will be slow areas, there’s no question, but I believe in the end, there’s enough critical mass being created in the UAE, and hopefully, it will spread virally.”
The panel also discussed Artificial Intelligence (AI), with Victoria Espinel, president and chief executive officer at BSA: The Software Alliance, saying that AI would not replace human capital, but boost humans’ efficiency.
IBM’s Meyerson added that “computers scale and humans don’t”.
During his speech, the IBM executive discussed internet governance, saying that there were many challenges, especially considering the abundance of data. He noted that 90 per cent of the world’s current data was generated in the past 24 months, making the velocity at which data is coming too quick to be governed properly.
