Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Nour, Samia Satti O. M.
Author-Email: nour@intech.unu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: United Nations University, Institute for New Technologies
Title: Science and Technology Development Indicators in the Arab Region:
	 A Comparative Study of Gulf and Mediterranean Arab Countries
Abstract: This paper employs both descriptive and comparative approaches to discuss
	 science and technology (S&T) development in Arab countries in the Gulf and
	 Mediterranean regions. Throughout the paper we use the Organisation for Economic
	 Cooperation and Development’s definition of S&T indicators (OECD, 1997). From
	 this research we find that neither the Gulf nor the Mediterranean countries
	 investigated possess sufficient human or financial resources to promote S&T
	 performance. We show that the low level of resources devoted to S&T development
	 together with inadequate economic structures mean that the Gulf and Mediterranean
	 Arab countries lag behind the world’s advanced and leading developing countries
	 in terms of S&T input and output indicators. In both regions, most of the research,
	 development and S&T activities occur within public and academic sectors, with only
	 a very small contribution from the private sector. When comparing S&T indicators
	 between the two Arab regions we find that despite the high standard of economic
	 development in the Gulf countries, as measured by gross domestic product per capita
	 and the human development index, it is the Mediterranean countries that perform
	 better in most of the S&T input and output indicators. Furthermore, we show that
	 there is very limited scientific cooperation within and between the Gulf and
	 Mediterranean countries as well as between them and other Arab countries.
	 In contrast, three Arab countries from the Mediterranean region – Morocco, Algeria
	 and Tunisia – show active scientific cooperation with the international community,
	 especially the OECD and France in particular. This implies that social proximity
	 (sharing similar religion, language, culture, etc.) does not help regional scientific
	 cooperation within the Arab world; it is geographical proximity to Europe that
	 motivates these countries’ international scientific cooperation
Keywords: S&T indicators, input-output indicators, Arab Gulf countries, Arab Mediterranean countries. 
Series: Discussion Paper
Creation-Date: 2005
Number: 2005-03
File-URL: https://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/discussion-papers/2005-3.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 256 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unuint:200503