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Report o Conerence Key Findings, Ideas,and Recommendations

THE ABU DHABI

INNOVATION FORUM

Building an Innovative Culture

Shangri-La Hotel, Abu Dhabi, UAEJanuary 11th & 12th, 2010

Presented by:

Abu Dhabi University &Khalia Fund or EnterpriseDevelopment


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Abu Dhabi University (ADU) partnered with The Khalia Fund or Enterprise Development to directly address the objectiveso the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030, which calls or incorporating innovation in all economic sectors. This eectivecollaboration led to the creation o the UAEs rst conerence on innovation called The Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum.

The main objectives o this orum were to create dialogue on the subject o innovation and to understand what is neededto establish an innovative culture in the Emirate. The Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum took place on the 11 and 12 o January2010 at the Shangri-La Hotel in Abu Dhabi under the patronage o His Excellency Sheikh Hamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan,Chairman o the Abu Dhabi Crown Princes Court.

The event brought together entrepreneurs, innovation leaders, government, business and educational representatives orthe rst time in the UAE and was received with overwhelming enthusiasm. The result was an interactive conerence whereideas were shared and best practices dened. This conerence hosted thirteen infuential innovation speakers providingboth International perspectives on creating innovative cultures in their organisations and local perspectives on currentprojects and plans.

The Innovation orum identied an agreement amongst attendees that greater collaboration between individuals,corporations, universities and government entities is essential or successul innovation in the UAE. The conerencerecognised that a common ramework aligning policies and plans to encourage innovation in the UAE needs to be in placeor guidance and best practice.

A key request rom the audience was the implementation o a comprehensive University research inrastructure thatwill provide a space or innovators to practice and develop new ideas. Financial and motivational assistance should beprovided to entrepreneurs rom all ages. Finally, the audience recognised the need or urther networking opportunities toencourage, inspire and stimulate an innovative culture that will develop all aspects o the UAE economy.

In this document we provide a summary o the event as a oundation or uture dialogue on the subject o innovation. Wealso suggest ways to meet the requirements needed to be in place to create an innovative society in the UAE. We wouldlike to present this report as the beginning o a discourse to encourage and create an innovative society that will providegreater leverage to the UAE towards meeting its objectives outlined in the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030.

Ater two days o insightul presentations and interactive discussions on how to create the ideal innovative society andlearning rom successul case studies, some key themes began to emerge and are summarised below.

The need to create an innovative culture in the UAE

The requirements to develop the inrastructure to create an innovative society

Creating a guidance platorm or innovators to distinguish between innovative products and innovative services,

institutions and people

Successul innovation has to meet current market demands and hold a deep value to people

By Inspiring and stimulating local talent and entrepreneurs to be innovative and supporting both their successes andailures we encourage innovators

The need or a collaborative eort between governments, public and private organisations as well as educationacilities or an innovative society

The requirement or a basic research inrastructure that allows ideas to develop rom conception to market


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RECOMMENDATIONS & SUGGESTIONS

This conerence highlighted the need to create an innovative society that not only benets it people but also moves theUAE towards becoming a leader in nurturing talent and encouraging growth. In order to achieve this we need to actswitly and the ollowing list has been developed as outcomes o this event with recommendations that need to be inplace to achieve this goal.

A collaborative eort between government, public and private organisations as well as education acilities is1.required to create a unctioning innovative society

A common ramework that aligns policies and plans to encourage innovation2.

A comprehensive basic research inrastructure that will allow new ideas to develop3.

Financial and motivational support or entrepreneurs to be innovative and encourage their ideas rom research to4.market

Further networking opportunities to encourage, inspire and stimulate an innovative culture that will develop all5.aspects o the UAE economy

We would like to take this opportunity to suggest how to take these recommendations rom concept into practicalworking solutions to reach the end goal o creating an innovative culture in the UAE.

This Forum developed a universal agreement that regular meetings and conerences between relevant individuals1.rom government, public organisations, private organisations and education acilities are required to create aunctioning innovative society. These regular meetings would serve as ideal opportunities to understand andassess current initiatives and dene uture requirements needed to create an innovative culture here in the UAE.

These regular meetings will potentially serve as a starting point to develop a common ramework to encourage2.innovation and provide valuable eedback, essential or developing uture policies and plans or the Emirate.

It should be mandatory or all educational organisations to provide the acilities to encourage basic research that3.would help entrepreneurs become innovative in their approaches. Assistance should be provided to develop thenecessary acilities required to build a research inrastructure and Universities should be encouraged to developprogrammes, courses and training in the subject o innovation.

Financial and motivational assistance should be provided to entrepreneurs to encourage innovation. These4.incentives should be marketed eectively to ensure awareness and urther eective partnerships betweennancial support providers and educational organisations would ensure this support reaches the correctindividuals

Networking is an eective way or all parties to rapidly improve their knowledge and benet, through eedback,5.rom the greater or wider experience o others. Networking should complement other mechanisms whichhave proved to be eective or sharing experience, such as co-operation between institutes, governmental

departments, conerences and workshops. We recommend regular Forums are used to plan and create thecontent or uture networking events on innovation thereore actively creating networking opportunities requiredto create an innovative culture in society.

The above recommendations suggest how to turn the ndings o this event into practical working solutions. The key themerunning through all o these is the need or urther dialogue and a mutual understanding that collaboration betweenindividuals, corporations, universities and government entities is essential to successul innovation.


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EVENT REVIEW & FINDINGS

Day one opening remarks were delivered by Dr Nabil Ibrahim the Chancellor o Abu Dhabi University. Dr Nabils welcomeaddress stressed the importance o creating an innovative culture or our uture generations. He outlined how this orumwas an opportunity to learn rom the best and the brightest, and gain insights rom hundreds o years o experiencepresented over the next ew days.

The opening keynote presentation on innovation in the UAE was delivered by His Excellency Abdullah Al Ahbabi theAssitant Secretary General, General Secretariat o Abu Dhabis Executive Council. HE Abdullah Al Ahbabi began with howthis conerence addresses the cornerstone objectives o the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030, which calls or incorporatinginnovation in all economic sectors to become among the leading economies o the world. He mentioned the importance oa common ramework to align policies and plans and the signicance o engaging the private sector or Emirate economicprogress. He also reinorced the comments rom the Chancellor in the opening remarks on the value o this orum whichserves as a platorm to build a culture and environment conducive to innovation.

Dr Arcot Desai Narasimhalu, the Director o Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Chairman o the Business InnovationGenerator at Singapore Management University placed emphasis on creating innovation that matters. Dr Arcotspresentation began with dening what innovation is and gave valuable tips on how to identiy innovative ideas. Heshowed how innovative ideas are turned into marketable products at SMU by assessing market readiness and creatingproducts which provide value to customers. Dr Arcot outlined his three rules or innovation. Rule one addressed marketreadiness; rule two ensures consumer readiness and rule three addressed consumer needs. Dr Narasimhalu then went onto reveal his quick methodology or innovation providing examples o exiting products.

Charbel Fakhourys (Regional General Manager o Microsot Gul) presentation on innovation at Microsot detailedthe organisations outstanding record on innovative thinking and process. Charbel revealed how Microsot ostersinnovations through inviting ideas rom sta and customers to create products that match consumer needs. He stressedthe importance o continually investing in technology innovation through research and development, a subject that wasemphasised in Dr Thomas Anderssons presentation.

Dr Thomas Andersson, the President o the International Organisation or Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development(IKED) began with a slide showing corporate spending on research and development and explained how more companies,countries and cities are investing in attracting inormation and knowledge through research and development. Hispresentation went onto to explain how innovation can be measured using natural resource based innovation governancemeasures that include measurements o promoting constructive collaboration, cross-sectoral technology transer,leadership, diversication, university industry linkages and the countrys image in the current market.

Dr Andersson presented case study data on how Abu Dhabi perormed on each o these measurements compared toother countries and he identied eight areas o improvements that could be made to create a truly innovative society.These include greater economic diversication, maintaining the expatriate creative class, creating ties among talentedindividuals belonging to dierent organisations, policy implementation, creating an environment conducive to the

development o opportunity-based entrepreneurship, investment in research and development, mobilisation o humanresources and investments to match opportunities or economic and business development and lastly urther collaborationand networking opportunities.

Dr. John Bell, Head o Strategy & Partnerships at Philips Research shared with the audience Philips transormation romclosed innovation to open innovation and the consequent increase in prots or the company. The example Dr. Bellgave rom Philips was the high tech Eindhoven campus they built as an open research and development centre or over100 companies. This setup provided the ecosystem or innovation to develop and created greater values, strengthenedcompetences, reduced cost and shared risk thereby developing an outside in, open innovation system that helped ideascome to them, making them more innovative as company.

Kamal Hassan, the President & CEO o Innovation 360 gave the nal workshop on day one and emphasised the pointsthat the key to innovation is research and value to customers. His presentation reinorced the idea o open innovation asa means to be more innovative as an organisation. Finally, his quote on ...an invention that is never commercialised hasno value, yet a invention that survived will provide value orever... summed up the key themes running through day one othis event.


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A lively debate on day one chaired by Dr Arcot Desai Narasimhalu and consisting o a panel including Dr. ThomasAndersson, Dr. John Bell, Khurram Hamid (Group Head o the Global Strategic Project Group or Procter & Gamble)and Kamal Hassan provided an opportunity or the audiences questions to be addressed directly. The subject o the

universities role to encourage innovation attracted some interesting responses. In summary the panel suggested thatuniversities must allow or ideas to get out o the campus and they must provide the unding or the support o theseideas. Universities have the opportunity to begin basic research and in training students to be open in innovation and theymust be able to commercialise these ideas and network successully with key stakeholders.

A question rom the audience on nding a balance between open innovation and being a leader in business was directedto Dr Bell rom Philips. He mentioned that at Phillips they have tried both approaches which took time, but eventually theyound the balance. Another point made by the panel suggested that the UAE needs to develop stronger IP laws in orderto keep new ideas in the region. Both Philips and Procter and Gamble revealed how they oten co-own the IP with theinventor so inventors have the support o large companies but still own the idea.

Day 2

The keynote presentation on day two was delivered by Pro. Hal Gregerson the Proessor o Leadership at INSEAD and thepublished author o The Innovators DNA. Pro. Gergerson placed emphasis on ensuring that innovation was part o thebusiness strategy o an organisation rather than relying solely on structured processes and analytics. He gave exampleso how innovative CEOs such as Steve Jobs rom Apple Inc. are successul because they are able to connect seeminglyunrelated ideas to t consumer needs. He also observed that all innovators question, observe experiment and network tocreate innovative ideas.

Pro. Peter Hiscocks, a Fellow in Entrepreneurship at the University o Cambridge presented on how research programmesadd value to society. His presentation dened the dierence between innovation and invention and then went on todiscuss the research to success process and where research-to-success led to innovation success. His research concluded

that we must encourage research programmes and universities and research centres to lead to innovation outcomes andall government unded research must have an innovation action plan.

Khurram Hamid, the Group Head o the Global Strategic Projects Group gave an interesting case study o Procter andGambles success in innovation which was primarily due to increased eorts in collaboration and partnership. On a similarnote Mohammed Zaquot the EVP or Personal Banking at Al Hilal Bank showed how they harnessed the creative talents otheir colleagues to change the pipeline and products to suit the customer.

The second debate o the conerence began with a short introduction to a new speaker Mr Omran Sultan Al Hallami theCEO o the Hallami Group who gave a introduction on his organisations role in developing new inventions in Abu Dhabi.This panel consisted o Dr. Nabil Ibrahim, Pro. Hal Gregerson, Pro. Peter Hiscocks, Khurram Hammid and Omran SultanAl Hallami. They agreed that an invention already in place in another country and repeated here in not innovation but

by incrementally innovating any business model or idea and making it relevant to the new destination, it can be verysuccessul.

A question rom the Department o Municipality wanted to know how to best set up a department to support inventorsand entrepreneurs and Pro. Hiscocks suggested that they ocus on their strengths and include enthusiastic people to lead.Mr Omran Sultan Al Hallami suggested that Abu Dhabi needs a centralised government centre or inventors to approach.The panel also agreed that in order to create an innovative society then a oundation o deep research rom universitiesneeds to be present to build ideas.

Finally, the acilitator Mr Ali Al Saloom, the Coounder o OneTVO and the Founder o Ask-Ali.com used highlights romhis own personal journey o development rom his proud Emirati heritage to inspire innovative talents in others. His

presentation Be a Pioneer or Disappear provided an impassioned call to look to the past to build the UAEs innovativeuture.


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Ater two days o insightul presentations and interactive discussions on how to create the ideal innovative society andlearning rom successul case studies, some key themes began to emerge and are summarised below.

The need to create an innovative culture in the UAE

The requirements to develop the inrastructure to create an innovative society

Creating a guidance platorm or innovators to distinguish between innovative products and innovative services,institutions and people

Successul innovation has to meet current market demands and hold a deep value to people

By Inspiring and stimulating local talent and entrepreneurs to be innovative and supporting both their successesand ailures we encourage innovators

The need or a collaborative eort between governments, public and private organisations as well as educationacilities or an innovative society

The requirement or a basic research inrastructure that allows ideas to develop rom conception to market

CONCLUSION

In order to incorporate innovation in all economic sectors to meet the objectives o the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030,it is vital to create an environment where innovators can thrive. This will take time and patience as we build the systemrom the bottom upwards. However, through reaching this goal the UAE can look orward to being one o the leadingeconomies o the world which not only develops talent but houses the greatest innovation thinkers on the planet.

We would like to thank all those individuals who helped create an outstanding rst event on innovation and look orwardto meeting you at the second Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum.


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Dr. Nabil Ibrahim

Chancellor, Abu Dhabi University

Throughout his career, Dr. Ibrahim has attracted over $20 Million in research & development grants, served as principalinvestigator to some 35 technical projects, produced 57 publications & conerence presentations, developed a numbero laboratories and produced numerous student theses. In addition, he holds two US patents in Advanced MaterialsEngineering. Dr. Ibrahim received his BS Degree in Engineering rom Cairo University and his PhD rom McMaster

University in Canada.

His Excellency Abdullah Al AhbabiAssistant Secretary General, General Secretariat o Abu Dhabi Executive Council

Abdullah Ali Musleh Al Ahbabi is currently the Assistant Secretary General o Abu Dhabi Executive Council. He is amember o the Executive Committee o the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, the Chairman o the Cross-DepartmentalCoordination Committee, a member o Abu Dhabi Committee or Technology Development. Mr. Al Ahbabi has a MasterDegree in Business Administration (MBA) rom the Hull University in the United Kingdom in 1996 and a Bachelor

degree in Business Administration rom Augsburg College in the USA in 1988.

Dr. Arcot Desai Narasimhalu

Director, Institute o Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Dr Desai has thirty ve years o IT based innovation experience and has directed the development o technologies thathave been commercialised. He has been involved in helping create technology based start-ups since 1998 and hasworked closely with several ounding teams. He is presently a Practice Proessor o Inormation Systems at SingaporeManagement Universitys School o Inormation Systems and is also the Director o its Institute o Innovation andEntrepreneurship. He is a business advisor to several start-up companies and is a Director o Singapore based BusinessAngels Network South East Asia (BANSEA). He recently set up the Singapore aliate o Product Development andManagement Association and is its Founding President. Desai is presently writing three dierent books relating to

innovation.

Charbel FakhouryRegional General Manager - Gul Region, Microsot Corporation

As Regional General Manager o Microsots Gul subsidiary, Charbel Fakhourys responsibilities span across growingpeople, business and impact on socioeconomic priorities in the region; instituting a diverse employee culture oleadership and values across the company. Under his leadership, Microsot Gul has been voted as the best subsidiaryglobally twice over a period o three years by Microsot CEO Steve Ballmer. His knowledge o the middle east regionand understanding o the power o Inormation technology, has been instrumental in empowering the regions youthby ocusing on programs such as Women in IT and several other education related initiatives in an aim to bridge the

gender divide and equip the next generation with the skills they need to thrive in changing economic conditions.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES


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Dr Thomas Andersson

Chairman o the Board, International Organisation or Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development(IKED)

Dr. Thomas Andersson, Chairman o the board or IKED, was President o Jnkping University over the past ve yearsand holds a number o international board and advisory positions in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He is Chairmano the International Entrepreneurship Academy (Intentac), Senior Advisor o Science, Technology and InnovationPolicy in the Sultanate o Oman, Vice Chairman o division XI o the Royal Swedish Academy o Engineering Science(IVA) on Education and Research Policy and is a member o the two expert groups to the European Commission.He is a member o the advisory board o the Swedish Agency or Higher Education, Board Member o the Swedish

Programme on ICT in Developing Regions (SPIDER), and serves on the Steering Committee o the Global Forum.

Dr. John Bell

Head o Strategy & Partnerships at Philips ResearchDr. John Bell is Head o Strategy & Partnerships at Philips Research. As such he ocuses on the strategy andpartnerships o Philips Research. In addition, he is responsible or the Research Program Oce and or strengtheningaccount management. Since April 2003, John became a Proessor at Radboud University o Nijmegen holding theChair on Strategic Alliances. Here he established the Center or Strategy and Alliances (CSA), which is one o theew research centers on alliances around the globe. John started his career as Assistant Proessor Strategic and

International Management at Tilburg University.

Kamal Hassan

President and CEO, Innovation 360 Group

Mr Kamal is President and CEO o Innovation 360, an innovation management and operation advisory group thatworks with private and public entities throughout the world. In addition to leading the companys global operationsand customer acquisition, Kamal advises clients on their innovation and business transormation eorts, romstrategic planning to execution and ollow-up. He also educates clients on creativity and systematic innovation to

create new products, services and business models.

Prof. Hal B Gregersen

Proessor o Leadership, INSEAD

Pro. Gregersen is Proessor o Leadership at INSEAD where his vocation o executive teaching, coaching, consulting,

and research centers on leading innovation, change and globalisation. He is particularly ascinated by how leaders inbusiness and society generate provocative ideas with powerul impact. Beore joining INSEAD, Dr. Gregersen taughtat the London Business School, the Tuck School at Dartmouth College, Helsinki School o Economics, Fletcher Schoolo Law and DiplomacyTuts University, Brigham Young University, Thunderbird, and the Turku School o Economicsas a Fulbright Fellow. Dr. Gregersens orthcoming book, The Innovators DNA (Harvard Business School Press), fowsrom a path-breaking international research project conducted with Clayton Christensen (Harvard Business School)and Je Dyer (Wharton/BYU).


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Prof. Peter Hiscocks

Fellow in Entrepreneurship, Judge Business School, University o Cambridge

Pro. Peter Hiscocks has spent a number o years in the private sector, and has worked or Fisons Ltd, TI Research,Scientic Generics and Integral Inc., among others. Peter has taught entrepreneurship and innovation managementat the University o Cambridge or many years. He was Director o the Cambridge Entrepreneurship Centre at theJudge Business School and was also Director o Cambridge Enterprise. He currently teaches entrepreneurship or

several courses at IFM as well as continuing to teach at the Judge Business School..

Khurram Hamid

Group Head Group Strategic Projects Group

Mr Khurram Hamid has been credited or leading and creating the Knowledge Management Group or Gillette EMEAand then was tasked to create and lead the Gillette Digital Marketing Organisation or EMEA where he developed

the rst digital marketing partnership globally with Microsot. More recently he was the Global Head o MobileMarketing or P&G where he created and lead the global strategy and organisation globally as well as establishingthe rst strategic partnership with Nokia in Asia. He is currently part o the Global Strategic Projects group working

on direct business priorities or the Global Executive team at P&G.

Mohammed Zaquot

EVP or Personal Banking, Al Hilal Bank

Mohammad Zaqout joined Al Hilal Bank in March 2008 as EVP Head o Personal Banking bringing with him over17 years o experience Personal Banking sector globally. He was previously the Regional Head o Retail Banking

overseeing the Levant and Northern Arica operations at Arab Bank based out o Jordan. He started his careerwith Bank o America, San Francisco, USA, in Customer Service and moved on to hold several senior Retail Bankingpositions both in Standard Chartered Bank and Arab Bank across GCC and Levant. Zaqout holds a bachelors oScience and Business Administration in Finance rom the University o San Francisco and is a certied Retail Credit

Risk and Investments Banker.

Mr Omran Sultan Al Hallami

CEO o the Hallami Group

Hallami Group is one o the leading national group o companies in UAE. Headquartered in Abu Dhabi it has beenin operation in the country or the past 16 years. The Group was known as Al Hallami Trading Establishment rom

1967 ever since it was started by Mr. Sultan Matar Al Hallami. The Al Hallami Group o Companies represents Swisscompanies such as Bio Strath, Rausch, Weleda, Gerda Spillmann and Morga. He is also an Executive CommitteeMember o The Swiss Business Council, Abu Dhabi, a Gold Member in The American Business Group and the CEO &Chairman o Al Hallami Group

He is an enterprising person who has always strived to stand out rom the rest to create an identity o his own andthis attitude o his has led him to many unique & exceptional inventions some o which are patented and the otherson the verge o being patented. He is a visionary person with a rare blend o proessional qualication, innovativeideas and passion hence he has launched a venture in the UAE to manuacture a never-beore product The Road

Tourist Trains.


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Ali Al Saloom

Founder o Ask-Ali.Com - Co-Founder OneTVO- CEO Embrace Arabia

Ali Alsaloom has delivered his intercultural awareness talks to hundreds o business groups. His TV show, AskAli, reaches thousands, as does his column in the weekly magazine M. For his work as a cultural ambassador,Time Out Dubai recognised him as one o their 40 Local Heroes in 2008. With a university degree in HospitalityManagement & Tourism and a Masters in Brand and Cross-Cultural Management, Ali augmented his ormaltraining with a natural fair or communication and an undeniable sense o showmanship. He is a membero the Proessional Speakers Association o the Middle East and one o the Guls ew experts in the culturaltourism eld. He joined the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority in 2005, and helped develop the citys rst Meeting,Incentives, Conerence and Exhibition (MICE) department. Ali bravely struck out on his own and ormed his owncommunication company, Maestro Enterprises. His portal www.ask-ali.com answers questions on all things

Emirati.


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