Towards Innovation Policy in Abu Dhabi

Cover of the publication: Towards Innovation Policy in Abu Dhabi


Abu Dhabi has recently entered a reform phase with the primary emphasis placed on diversifying the economy away from the dependency on oil and gas through investment in people, innovation and the development of a Knowledge-Based Economy (KBE). As part of that agenda, the General Secretariat of the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi (GSEC) mandated the project “Innovation Systems, Benchmarking and Indicators in Natural Resource Rich Economies (NRE): The Abu Dhabi Context”, which has been undertaken in close consultation with the main stakeholders in Abu Dhabi.

The final report of the project initially reviews the special features of Abu Dhabi which is followed by a review of the broadly based societal evolution that is under way towards a knowledge-based innovation-led economy. This part of the report examines the special features of innovation, which is critically dependent on the motivations and efforts taking shape among multiple interrelated individuals and organisations within the economy, and also under the influence of intensive cross-border processes of knowledge exchange and restructuring.

The report further ventures into benchmarking Abu Dhabi’s performance with regard to factors of relevance to innovation. The impressive overall economic performance and strength in infrastructure - including, importantly, in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) - contrast sharply with under performance in innovation. Analysis of factors crucially hindering innovation further identifies eight gaps that require policy action:

  • Low economic diversification;
  • The turnover of expatriates;
  • Weak ties among talent economic diversificationed individuals belonging to different organisations;
  • Absence of an environmentally sound and sustainable economy and society;
  • Weaknesses in opportunity-based entrepreneurship;
  • Under performance in R&D and technical innovation;
  • Mobilization of human resources and investments to match opportunities for economic and business development, and;
  • Weaknesses in governance.