登月中东和北非：让中东成为创新的新摇篮

in collaboration with WORLD GOVERNMENT SUMMITMOONSHOT MENA: MAKINGTHE MIDDLE EAST THE NEWCRADLE OF INNOVATIONTABLE OF CONTENTSCONTACTSEXECUTIVE SUMMARYTHE CASE FOR MOONSHOT MENA•‘WICKED’ CHALLENGES•BIG ASPIRATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES•AMBITIOUS RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION (RDI) AGENDAS•TALENT AND RESOURCESFOUR PARADIGM SHIFTS TO ACHIEVE MOONSHOTMENA•FROM INCREMENTAL TO MOONSHOT THINKING•FROM SILOED EFFORTS TO CROSS-BORDER COLLABORATION•FROM SOURCING TALENT TO BUILDING A TALENT ECOSYSTEM•FROM PROJECT-BASED TO SCALABLE, LONG-TERM FUNDING•CONCLUSIONABOUT WGSABOUT STRATEGY&ABOUT THE IDEATION CENTERABOUT THE AUTHORS3542111222223 2 BEIRUTDr. Yahya AnoutiPartner+961-1-985-655yahya.anouti@strategyand.pwc.comRamzi HagePrincipal+961-1-985-655ramzi.hage@strategyand.pwc.comCONTACTSWORLD GOVERNMENT SUMMITSupriya Kumar,Dr. Mark Esposito, andJonathan Blair Milleralso contributedto this report. DUBAIDima SayessPartner+971-4-436-3000dima.sayess@strategyand.pwc.comDr. André DuerrbeckPrincipal+971-4-436-3000andre.duerrbeck@strategyand.pwc.comSarah Al FeghaliSenior Fellow, Ideation Center+971-4-436-3000sarah.alfeghali@strategyand.pwc.com WORLD GOVERNMENT SUMMITEXECUTIVESUMMARYThe Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has the potential tobecome a new cradle of globalinnovation.The region has the potential to pioneer actions of global significance,including transforming energy into food on a massive scale, andleading a new era of space and ocean exploration. It has the aspiration,the potential—and the need—to tackle massive global and regionalchallenges, most importantly waterscarcity.Laying the groundwork for this radically different future will take morethan big thinking: the Middle East will need to embrace a new anddisruptive way of conceiving of ideas and turning them into practicalreality. Instead of striving for incrementally better outcomes, MENAnations need to challenge the boundaries of technological possibilityand human ingenuity in pursuit of audacious goals that could possiblyimprove the lives of millions or billions of people worldwide.We call this type of off-the-charts thinking and doing ‘Moonshot MENA.’Its namesake mission, the NASA Apollo program, conjures the scaleand impact of moonshot innovation, as well as the extent of resources,coordination, and imagination required to make it successful. Amore recent example is the rapid development of effective COVID-19vaccines—the first vaccines to be commercialized inless than a year.Programs such as Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the UAE’s Vision2071 illustrate MENA’s eagerness to act boldly in pursuit of atechnology-fueled future, one that will transform regional economiesinto efficient, knowledge-driven engines of prosperity.Turning such visions into reality is a high-stakes undertaking that callsfor a paradigm shift in the way the MENA region approaches innovation.Not only does it need to create a culture that invests in human capital,it needs to do so by working across borders and focusing on long-term, ultra-high-risk projects. This report examines what MENAcountries need to nurture disruption, develop talents and capabilities(in particular in science, technology, and innovation), collaborate acrossboundaries, and carry out complex, long-term projects. 4 WORLD GOVERNMENT SUMMITWORLD GOVERNMENT SUMMITTHE CASE FORMOONSHOT MENAAs it looks to the future, the MENA region has abundant talent andresources to scale up its inventiveness. Governments around the regionare already stepping into action. Four areas will be key focus priorities:1‘WICKED’CHALLENGESThe MENA region faces a set of ‘wicked’ challenges—that is, systemic,highly complex, and interlinked problems—that pose obstaclesto the region’s development and are natural targets for moonshotinnovation(Exhibit 1). 55 WORLD GOVERNMENT SUMMITWORLD GOVERNMENT SUMMITEXHIBIT 1:MOONSHOT MENA ‘WICKED’CHALLENGES MAPDisclaimer:This challenge map is not comprehensive. It is an example that is used to showcasethe interconnectedness of the systemic challenges of the MENA region.Click to highlight For example, MENA is the most water-scarce region in the world. Home to more than6 percent of the world’s population, the region contains less than 2 percent of theworld’s renewable fresh water.1At the same time, the region is highly dependent onother countries to meet its food and nutritional requirements; in the Gulf CooperationCouncil (GCC), for example, on average, 90 percent of food is imported.2Theseresource constraints are exacerbated by unsustainable consumption of food, water,and resources. They are also related to high incidences of chronic health issues such asobesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The prevalence of obesity in the regionis 23%—nearly double the global prevalence of 13%.3Meanwhile, rising pollution4—the result of a growing urban population, fossil-fuel-powered electricity generation,and extreme weather events—deters exercise and further aggravates existing publichealth challenges.