Innovation

From a slow start, innovative fintech could shake up finance in the GCC

In the West, governments play the role of facilitator in terms of policy and regulation, and in providing the right environment for innovation to flourish, leaving it to the private sector to come up with solutions. However, in the GCC, with regulations lagging in most sectors and the private sector wary of joining in, governments play a more central role in fostering innovation. Still, fintech has begun to bubble up across the region, in payment systems (CashU), peer-to-peer lending (Beehive),...

Why Research Matters for the Economy

From the above table, it is evident that only Kuwait and Qatar are estimated to enjoy a surplus in 2015. Plotting the GCC surplus/deficit from 2004 through 2015 against the average dollar price of crude Brent shows the deep correlation. Thus, diversifying the economy is an imperative for the GCC, on building a competitive knowledge economy and promoting innovation, research, and development (R&D). However, for building a knowledge economy, reliable access to data and information is required, which should be...

Smart Cities in the GCC

An Emerging Trend Smart City is a hot and happening concept in the field of urban innovation right now. This concept assumes that a city operates as a system or a group of interlocked parts working together, where technology is used to maximize its efficiency and also unlock its potential, while its chief focus remaining on sustainability. What makes cities smart? There have been different perspectives about how a smart city should be or what it should have; however there...