Building a knowledge economy

Abstract

Knowledge is now the single most important factor for socio-economic development and science & technology are the great equalisers. Countries that have realized this and invested heavily in developing their human resources to the highest possible levels and then and agricultural products have leaped forward, leaving others far behind. The extent of darkness that prevails in the Islamic World is apparent from the fact that while ninety Nobel Prizes have been awarded to faculty members of one University in UK, the University of Cambridge, and thirty two Nobel Prizes have been awarded to faculty members of just one College of this University (Trinity College), not a single Nobel Prize in science or medicine has ever been won by any scientist working in an Islamic country. We still live in an age of darkness and superstition. In order to transition to a knowledge economy the universities in the Arab world need to be strengthened and linked to industrial and agricultural sectors. This can only happen if our leaders in the Islamic world realise that their real wealth lies in the human resources that they possess and the only way forward is to transition to strong knowledge based economies from their present natural resource driven economies. For this they must give the highest budgetary priority to education, particularly higher education, and to science, technology and innovation. The model developed by Pakistan under my leadership has attracted world wise praise and it can be readily implemented in Arab universities. It focuses on developing a top class faculty and providing them with an enabling environment where research and innovation can flourish.