powered by
Ticket Bar
Ticket Bar
Formation of startups and new companies
Commercial exploitation of science, technology, and novelty
System of laws, regulations, strategies, and funding priorities
Discovery and creation of new knowledge of the natural world
Application of new knowledge towards useful social ends
Published on 16 September 2011 in SciDev.Net
Plans for science collaboration in the Muslim world aren’t working and need a major revamp, says Athar Osama.
As SciDev.Net’s Islam Analysis reaches its first year of publication, it is a good time to reflect on the major themes in science development — and politics — in the Islamic world.
We have covered the need for a science vision within countries in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and collaboration among them; the role and purpose of science diplomacy — particularly, US president Barack Obama’s science initiative towards the Islamic world; and the need for a social contract for science.
But so far, the story of science and innovation in OIC countries is one of missed targets and dashed expectations. And fundamental questions have now arisen about the purpose of OIC’s science project, in particular about the role of cooperation.
If it isn’t working, despite the best efforts of those involved, policymakers must be doing something wrong — and trying to do more of the same is unlikely to deliver. To change course, they may need to go back to the drawing board on cooperation.
Collaboration: struggling for take-off
In the last decade, several Muslim countries —Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — have renewed their investment in higher education and scientific research.
But even as budgets increase, there has not been a sea change in the quantity or the nature of scientific activity in OIC science collaboration.
A number of initiatives created to spark collaboration are struggling to take off and make a meaningful impact, such as a pan-Islamic science fund and the Science Technology and Innovation Organisation (STIO).
On May 17, 2011 the inaugural meeting of the Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council (GSIAC) for Malaysia was chaired by Prime Minister Najib Razak at the premises of the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS).
A brainchild of the Prime Minister, the GSIAC was mooted arising from Malaysia’s positive experiences in utilizing expert advice from the private sector and academia to shape her socio-economic development plans. What is unique for the GSIAC is the depth and breadth of its membership which is both multidisciplinary and multisectoral in nature.
The council includes 25 renowned international figures of economics, business, science and technology volunteering t...
By: Athar Osama
Published on 15 July 2011 in SciDev.Net
Islamic nations should form a ‘forward bloc’ united by a vision of science for development to reverse a poor record of collaboration, argues Athar Osama.
For many years, science leaders at the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) have faced a rather lethargic response from member states to the activities and calls for funding of its Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH).
In an effort to establish a coalition of countries committed to scientific collaboration, last year they set up the Science, Technology and Innovation Organisation (STIO) as...
By Soraya Jamal
Published at Burnama on May 18, 2011 16:43 PM
KUALA LUMPUR, May 18(Bernama) — When United States President Barack Obama made his first major attempt to improve US relations with the Muslim world in Cairo in 2009, he said that one of the enabling tools was science and technology.
In his speech, he called for “partnership” with the Muslim world, after which the United States began a series of activities to enhance science and technology collaboration around the globe from Morocco to Malaysia.
But the concept of ‘science diplomacy’ is not new. For example, the scientific community was instrumental in facilitating US-Sovi...
By: Athar Osama
Published in SciDev.Net on 18 May 2011
S&T ministerial committee must reform its Inter-Islamic Networks to promote real collaboration with clear objectives, argues Athar Osama.
Last month, The Royal Society released a study of global scientific networks and collaboration that highlighted the truly global nature of science and called for policies to institutionalise scientific collaboration.
The document reinforced the established wisdom that international collaboration enhances the quality, visibility and impact of science. For example, papers co-authored with colleagues in a different country may receive three to four times more citations than...
By: Athar Osama
Published on SciDev.Net on 15 December 2011
Arab Spring revolutionaries turning to governance must adopt knowledge and innovation as barometers for progress, says Athar Osama.
As revolutions swept countries and shook governments across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region this year, they created opportunities for greater public voice in governance. Tunisia, for example, recently went through an election, and the Egyptian people are in the process of electing an assembly whose job is to write a new constitution.
And as revolutionaries turn to governance, they will have to address the socioeconomic and cultural challenges facing ten...
By: Frank Lehner
Published in Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy on 30 August 2011.
The idea of generating solar energy on a large scale in the sun-intensive countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to satisfy their own increasing energy demand and to export surplus energy to Europe as advocated in the DESERTEC concept1 has publicly received much attention in some countries, particularly in Germany, Morocco, Tunisia, and also substantial support from their governments. Besides the DESERTEC Foundation, an industrial consortium (Dii GmbH) was founded in 2009 which consists of major European and MENA companies to push this project further b...
By: Dr. Athar Osama
Muslim-Science.Com met with Tan Sri Dr. Omar Abdur Rahman, Mahathir’s Science Advisor for over a decade and half and, the “prime mover” behind Mahathir Mohammed’s vision of a Knowledge-driven Malaysia. A deeply humble man, Tan Sri Omar insists that Mahathir was a science policymaker par excellence in his own right and that he would hardly have needed a science advisor. However, he played a critical role in providing scientific credibility to Mahathir’s plans and helping the Prime Minister reach out to the scientific community to build support for his policies.
As Malaysia’s first and longest serving Science Advisor – a position t...
