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Tech & Business

8.17.2018

Competitiveness : The United Arab Emirates leads the Arab countries

A report released this week by the World Bank Group in association with the World Economic Forum ranks the UAE as the best Arab country in terms of competitiveness. It highlights that the country is well on its way to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The Arab World Competitiveness Reports released this week shows that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) leads the Arab region in terms of competitiveness. This result prove that the country’s investments into tech fields and firms are already paying off.

Good anticipations made good investments

On its way to reduce its reliance on hydrocarbons and in order to jump into the Fourth Industrial revolution, the UAE has increased its investments in technology firms from $100 million to $1,7 billion in just two years, says the report. The Fourth Industrial Revolution in mainly characterised by the range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds. That’s why improving the digital fields and skills of the country is such a priority and also fostering global tech firms to settle in UAE, as they did in the past few years.

Efforts need to be increased to enhance its position

The UAE aims to invest $1 billion in local and global technology start-ups by 2021, since the country still needs to increase its efforts to expand the use of latest digital technologies and innovation in the non-oil sectors, as the report shows. Indeed, there is still a gap to fill for Arab countries, even for the Emirates. In fact, if the country tops the Arab region, it is only ranked 17th on the global scale, followed by Saudi Arabia ranked 30th, Kuwait 52th and Oman 62th.

See also

Neom, Tesla, CERN, and ITER: The Technology Hubs of Tomorrow

The report advises these Arab countries to go further in diversification and support to entrepreneurship in order to create opportunities for youth and to prepare their countries to the unprecedented technological shifts.

Published on 17 August 2018

#United Arab Emirates