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Factors and drivers to attain innovation were among the topics discussed in the second day of the Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum 2010 held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Presented by the Abu Dhabi University and the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, the keynote presentation was presented by Dr. Hal Gregersen, Professor of Leadership INSEAD and Author of ‘The Innovator’s DNA’, where he tackled how to put creativity and innovation at the heart of strategy to drive economic success. Gregersen mentioned that one must have the ability to connect ideas and experiences that will eventually lead to creativity.
Professor Peter Hiscocks, Fellow of Business School at the University of Cambridge, imparted how directing research programmes can add value to society. According to Hiscocks, the government should encourage research that will lead to innovation and economic growth.
“The European Commission has a target growth of 3% to lead innovation and the European Union will spend 52 billion euros over four years under its Framework 7 for Research and Development. Individually EU states will spend four times more than the EU’s budget on research & development, whilst the United Kingdom alone spent 23.3 billion pounds or 1.75% of its GDP on R&D and the UK government accounts for 7.5 billion of that spending,” said Hiscocks.
Meanwhile, Khurram Hamid, Global Head of Mobile Marketing from Procter & Gamble shared how its Connect & Develop Program builds strategic innovation networks within the global company. For 170 years, P&G makes use of a global innovation network which enabled them to survive through the years. Hamid said that funding is necessary to encourage innovation and Abu Dhabi has an advantage due to its access to capital.
Al Hilal Bank, one of the leading Islamic Banks in the UAE, and also the forum’s Platinum Sponsor, highlighted its innovative banking services. Mohammad Zaquot, EVP and Head of Personal Banking at Al Hilal Bank, talked about the bank’s interactive website which recently won the ’Bank of the Year Award in the Arab Region’ during the Banking Web Awards 2009.
Al Hilal’s tailor made and cutting edge Shari’a compliant financial solutions along with other technologies and innovative products and services were also included in the presentation. Zaquote also discussed the bank’s innovative ’Mall Branch’, a first of its kind in the region. Al Hilal Bank has conceptualised a shopping mall experience into Personal Banking giving consumers a world class customer experience.
During the panel discussion, Omran Al Hallami, Chairman of Al Hallami Group; Dr. Nabil Ibrahim, Abu Dhabi University Chairman; Dr. Gregersen; Hiscocks and Hamid gave their views on various questions about innovation. When asked about the role of research to motivate innovation, Al Hallami said that Abu Dhabi and the UAE must have a centralised information system and Central Agency for inventions and innovations.
Dr. Ibrahim said, “You cannot claim that a university is a university without intellectual capital, and research can lead to business development and innovations. It is also the responsibility of universities to approach businesses on several subjects such as on sustainable energy. The universities, businesses and government must sit down in one table because universities may not have the resources to fund their research and businesses and governments must be committed to support such researches.”
The last presentation was given by Ali Al Saloom, Cofounder of OneTVO and a Cultural Expert Presenter, tackled a case study entitled, ‘Be a Pioneer or Disappear’, an impassioned call to look to the past to build the UAE’s innovative future.
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