Upon the invitation of the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) and co-organization of ESCWA and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), a workshop was held on “Linking Research Institutes with Industry in Arab States” on 5 October 2016 in Amman.
The workshop, which gathered participants from 13 Arab States, aimed to support activities of technological research and development institutes in Arab States, promote applied research to be transformed into goods and services that create new employment opportunities, link the academic aspects to practice for the benefit of developing various Arab industries and supporting their competitive edge. It also sought to support the formulation of long-term development projects that benefit national economies through the optimal use of academic and industrial sectors capacities’, and the use of the wealth of untapped expertise and knowledge of prominent academia. The workshop looked into ways to put together an Arab program to link scientific and technological development research institutes with the industrial sector, guided by successful Arab and international experiences, and work on raising awareness of the importance of scientific research and technological development in establishing sustainable Arab industry.
Several working papers were presented at the workshop, tackling the issues of scientific research, mechanisms to link academia with industry, and Arab experiences in this matter. Director of the ESCWA Technology Development Division Haidar Fraihat presented in this regard a paper on global initiatives in science, technology and innovation.
The workshop formulated a number of recommendations, namely: the importance of communication and coordination among research institutes in Arab countries to identify the needs and services required by Arab States and opportunities to coordinate and cooperate among them; urging research institutes in Arab States to reinforce their partnerships with the private sector to direct technological and scientific research towards building a knowledge economy and achieving sustainable development; calling on Arab universities to market their academic products such as graduation projects or pioneering innovative ideas within the private sector; and calling on AIDMO to formulate a preliminary vision to the Arab program that will link academia to industry, based on the outputs of the workshop and the visions of the related organizations (ISESCO, ESCWA, and Arab League's Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO))