The need to be creative

In 2003, the United Nations Development Programme published a significant, albeit controversial, study that examined the Arab world's progress in building up the knowledge, skills and institutions required in today's global community. The Arab Human Development Report 2003: Building a Knowledge Society presented a comprehensive explanation for the "knowledge deficit" and equally comprehensive prescriptions for reform. It claims that, among the hurdles of the present Arab reality and the reasons for its knowledge deficits today is the fact that the creativity and thirst for knowledge that produced ancient renaissances are not nurtured in present-day societies.

Some initiatives in the UAE are addressing the issue. For example, 'Unleash', a nation-wide project founded by five Zayed University students, aims at fostering creativity within the UAE society through the creation and distribution of 1,000 blank journals across all Emirates. In these journals, participants are invited to artistically express themselves through any means they prefer. The list of proactive activities taking place in the UAE is long, not to forget the concrete creativity boost in the world of construction and architecture, with the Emirates still attracting the leading architects, civil engineers and artists to build structures that break established rules.

Creativity is that trait of human behaviour that seems the most mysterious, and yet most critical to human advancement. The capacity to solve problems and produce works in new, appropriate and socially valued ways is an ability that has constantly been recognised as a factor of progress, even if almost always initially feared. The simplest way to define creativity is to state that it is the ability to create knowledge but then what is knowledge? Know-what refers to knowledge about facts. The size of China and the date of Captain Cook's landing in Australia are examples of this kind of knowledge, which is little more than information.

Know-how refers to skills as it is usually understood, that is, the capability to do something. In a word, it implies problem solving but does not necessarily include a stage of reflection upon the rules and principles. Know-who involves information about who knows what and who knows to do what. It involves the social capability to establish relationships to specialised groups in order to draw upon their expertise. Know-why refers to knowledge about principles ruling nature, mankind and society. Essentially, this is the crucial element of refinement in terms of when and how to use the other elements of knowledge.

Strategic foresight designer Riel Miller defines a knowledge society as one where there is a significantly higher level of learning intensity to daily life. What does this mean? It means that when, where, how and why we learn becomes much more generalised and intensive.

Learning intensity is a composite indicator that picks up both the stock and flow dimensions of tacit and explicit knowledge across four categories of knowing - know-how, know-what, know-who and know-why. The aim is to take into account all knowledge used over the course of a typical day by an individual whether in their home, on the job, in the street, at play or where-ever, when-ever. What distinguishes a learning society from an industrial one is the higher average per capita learning intensity.

The key elements of a learning society may be characterised as follows. First, it values and fosters habits of lifelong learning and ensures there are responsive and flexible learning programmes and learning networks.

The Emirates Foundation is clearly an initiative whose vision is precisely about education and the pursuit and attainment of knowledge.

Second, it is socially inclusive and ensures that all of its members are part of its learning communities. The federal experience of the UAE - the sole Arab experience that has actually worked - has been founded by a visionary leader, who understood well the value of social inclusion and participation. This legacy continues today.

Third, it stimulates the creation of new knowledge through research and other means of discovery and uses that knowledge for the benefit of society. Evidently, the National Research Foundation and the Masdar initiative are major undertakings to promote the enrichment of human capital.

Fourth, a learning society fosters public policy that ensures equity of access to information.

This last feature is the cornerstone of a learning society through its emphasis on know-why. The heart of it is a sense of purpose. Simply put, people need to understand because they are purpose-driven. Why do we do the things we do? What are the reasons behind decisions, phenomenon, events, and facts?

A child becomes knowledgeable by asking questions. Grown-ups tend to be lazier, more self-conscious or more scared to question. The creativity of the nations, however, would be enhanced if, every single day, questions were asked rather than answers proposed.

Olivier Renard is an adviser at the Secretariat General of the Research Council of the Sultanate of Oman. The views expressed herein are his own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Research Council or any other individual staff of the Secretariat.