Abu Dhabi, October 19, 2017: The Executive Team of the Global Innovation Index under the UAE National Agenda held its fifth national meeting at the Ministry of Economy’s headquarters in Dubai. The session was led by H.E. Abdullah Sultan Al Fan Al-Shamsi, Assistant Undersecretary for Industrial Affairs at the Ministry of Economy and head of the team. Government representatives from the Ministries of Education, Human Resources and Emiratisation, and Finance as well as the Central Bank, the Federal Authority for Competitiveness and Statistics, the Securities and Commodities Authority and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority participated in the event.

The group discussed the latest developments on the initiatives for developing innovation enablers and enhancing the UAE’s competitiveness on the Global Innovation Index. The discussion focused on monitoring the progress achieved in foreign direct investment data and the steps taken to regulate venture capital transactions. The implementation phases of the ‘Young Industrial and Innovative Companies’ initiative as well as surveys on the contribution of the private sector to the development of scientific research within the country also formed part of the agenda.

The meeting reviewed the progress plans for each initiative and the percentage of accomplishment, as well as the efforts of each side within their competencies. A number of challenges to be overcome in order to ensure the UAE’s continuous advanced rankings in various sub-indicators related to enhancing the country's position on the global index were addressed as well.

H.E. Al-Shamsi said that the gains made during the past period place greater responsibility on all team members to maximize their efforts and raise the level of coordination to keep on achieving the desired results.

He also pointed out the importance of accelerating the pace of work related to monitoring capital investment, as well as enhancing cooperation between entities to push ongoing efforts to develop venture capital transactions, scientific research data and the contributions therein of the private sector to bring the growth achieved in these areas forward to the results of the 2018 Global Innovation Index.

The Assistant Undersecretary added that the Young Industrial and Innovative Companies initiative will advance the government's efforts to develop an incubating environment for innovation and enhance entrepreneurial enablers. The initiative supports these companies from inception until marketing through financing, prioritization in public sector projects, and the provision of several other facilities for supporting the work of innovative industrial companies.

The meeting addressed four key areas that can raise the UAE's ratings on the Global Innovation Index (GII), namely growth potentials, the diversification of available financing instruments, enhancements to the business environment, and the promotion of exports. The impact of all education indices on the Global Innovation Index and the tools currently used to measure the volume of expenditure on education within the country were also reviewed.