Every community must invest heavily in creative thinking. It would be a lethal mistake to rely on today’s technologies, because within a few months, what might be cutting edge thinking today will become history. Any people or economy that refuses to move forward will slip dangerously behind as new ideas take their place. The only certainty is that more change will come, and the only preparation possible is to be ready for continual change.
This is why the UAE’s Innovation Week is so important. It sums up the country’s refusal to stand still, and it makes very clear that the country wants its people to have the mental equipment with which to turn themselves into global leaders and remain so. The huge investment of Dh300 billion across a range of strategic industry and knowledge sectors will fund a combination of research and development, and some commercial applications. But, most importantly, it will also fund education and training so that Emiratis can develop the skills that will take their country through this century and well beyond.
In the inspiring words of Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, the UAE plans to celebrate when it sells its last barrel of oil, because that will be the day that the UAE will end its dependency on the hydrocarbon industry. For that celebration to have meaning, the UAE’s economy needs to be able to handle its non-oil future, which is why the nationwide plan will focus on key sectors that will build the economy of the future.
The key lies in making sure that the UAE’s education system is able to teach and train young Emiratis to think creatively in topics such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics, starting in primary and secondary schools, all through the colleges and universities and right into the specialist research institutes where the UAE will prepare for the next century, and the one after that.
