Importance of spreading a culture of innovation

For a country to elevate ambitions and desires to the level of invaluable aims and goals, the pursuit of excellence is necessary, and the UAE is no exception.

The UAE’s current initiative to transform the nation from oil dependency to an economy driven by knowledge, technical skills, and ideas that result in enterprises characterised by inventiveness and clever use of resources, is complementary to such a pursuit. However, this must not come at the expense of cherished traditions and customs.

Innovation might be thought of as the facilitation of invention, taking something new and making it more useful. What might otherwise be merely unique or novel, works to solve a problem, improve health and welfare, satisfy customers, reform an establishment or rescue a company from bankruptcy. In addition, public transportation eases our dependency on cars while addressing both overcrowding of roads and pollution.

Innovation is widespread in schools, universities, and enterprises. It can be found in various studies and projects and is evident in awards and exhibitions that reveal and inspire talent. In turn, it results in polished and burnished ideas that encourage individuals to show individual distinction as a pursuit in its own right. It also promotes pushing the wheel of sustainable development and raises hope for the country to build an economy based on knowledge, rather than on barrels of oil that will run out tomorrow or even later today.

Fortunately, leaders in the UAE support innovation, generously rewarding pioneers, pathfinders, and entrepreneurs. This avid support promotes innovation, which, in turn, motivates citizens and residents to think actively along these lines. The Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development has promoted and facilitated entrepreneurial activity, providing not only financial support, but also consulting services for ideas that show promise in improving the lives of people.

Ideally, the world of tomorrow will sparkle with the evidence of people’s innovative solutions to problems: novel engineering plans, redrawn maps and interconnected facilities, needs for convenience and efficiency addressed, and economic challenges resolved. The country has a bright future, full of ready and able minds sorting out environmental difficulties with a view of achieving a balance with Nature.

One day, citizens and residents will wonder what it must have been like to depend on a single commodity for economic well-being, just as today, we wonder how our forefathers managed in the absence of cars, planes, trains, abundant petrol, and air conditioning. They did it the same way we will do it — through innovation.

— The reader is an Emirati educator based in Al Ain