The Global Knowledge Index was launched by the UAE on Wednesday, a joint project between United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation. The first edition of the index profiled seven sectors in 133 countries to create a guide to track knowledge wealth for stronger nation-building. With this initiative, the UAE has once again demonstrated its understanding of how to tap into the source of success. History has shown us that every time a civilisation, a country, a society, used its knowledge wealth with full consciousness, it rose to an eminence that assured it a permanent place in the book of achievements. The axiom of knowledge measured is knowledge managed was as true in the past as it is today and the UAE has set a decade by decade example of how leveraging this knowledge wealth can accelerate nation-building.

In the Index, the UAE took an overall 25th position, with Switzerland topping the index followed by Singapore, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands. The UAE took the second place for economy; in the field of Pre-University Education, it stood at the 16th place, in Higher Education at 27th, in Research, Development and Innovation, a critical marker of development, it was 37th and in the field of General Enabling Environment, a must-have asset for countries as the term connotes the felicity with which people and systems can synergise to produce optimum growth, the UAE occupied the 46th position. For a country so young, this is commendable.

The Global Knowledge Index — initiated by the UAE, in collaboration with UNDP — is an invaluable tool that will provide the right impetus to countries looking to emerge first at the finish line.