Bolstering Economic Growth in the Arab Region Through Commercialization of Research Outcomes

ABSTRACT

Despite the prevailing socio-political and diverse economic situation Arab countries have sustained over three long decades, the Arab region is currently experiencing pronounced economic growth largely attributed to the huge reservoirs of natural resources disbursed across the region. In contrast, many countries around the world, that would exhibit close resemblances to the economic dynamics of the Arab region, have had immense developments, crossing economic boundaries, and attaining competitive edges industrially and economically at the world stage. In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, Arab countries are left with little option but to delve into their own higher education research and development strategies to slowly unpack and replicate viable forms of technology into their local economies. In this chapter, we address current barriers, challenges and difficulties that have impacted severely the current adverse situations while exploring solutions and potential opportunities that are direly needed to transform the rather primitive, less competitive and outdated industrial paradigms into industrial pursuits that would leverage core industries to catalyze real economic growth. In so doing, we address industrial venues harnessing ongoing endeavors around the academic sector in ways that would veer academic outcomes in a direction that would invigorate serious world-class industrial formations. Along the way, we shall be addressing notions like innovation and entrepreneurship, intellectual property (IP) management, and start-up evolutions leading ultimately to spinoffs and thereon to small and medium enterprises (SMEs);the primary levers for job creation and real economic growth under any productively functional economy. Meanwhile, we explore the various contributions, if any, which have taken place in the Arab region as a result of ongoing endeavors of researchers to bolster economic growth and incentivize viable paths towards contriving real industrial models. This is considering a multitude of research pursuits around Arab universities and within indigenous research centers, a great many of which were receiving funding through local funding agencies or via international sponsors to carry the research wheel forward. Based on that, we draw conclusions, offer recommendations, and suggest policies that are commensurate with the United Nations 2030 Strategic Development Goals, which have become the benchmarks against which various world economies would fare. We also assess the impact of research endeavors, which have taken place in the Arab region, and whether they have, in fact, contributed to the evolution of livable industrial pursuits for the Arab world. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.