Managing Knowledge and Innovation for Sustainable Development in the Arab World, a forum organized by the Department of Municipal Affairs

As part of its commitment to enhance knowledge management, and encourage creativity and innovation among employees of the municipal system, and to shed light on the role the managing knowledge and innovation plays to achieve sustainable development, the office of knowledge management “Musharaka” at the Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA) organized a forum entitled “Managing Knowledge and Innovation for Sustainable Development in the Arab World”.

In a keynote speech at the opening of the forum which attracted more than 300 representatives from other governmental entities in the UAE , and the private sector and experts in knowledge management, H.E Engineer Ahmed Mohamed Shareef the Under Secretary of the Department of Municipal Affairs emphasized the importance of the Knowledge Management in achieving sustainable development saying both factors complement each other and adding that the government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi put the knowledge management and sustainable development on the top of the economic and development agenda within the frame of the Abu Dhabi 2030 vision.

H.E Mr. Shareef referred in his keynote speech to the achievement the DMA recognized in the field of knowledge management by establishing the knowledge management office at the DMA and the knowledge management program “Musharaka” which formed a platform for the Municipal System ( DMA and the Abu Dhabi City Municipality, Al Ain Municipality & Western Region Municipality) to exchange knowledgeable information among employees and enable them to look into the best practices in knowledge management which will ultimately lead to better services in the Municipal System offered the residents of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, investors & visitors and to create competitive advantage, economic development and sustainable growth .

Professor Allam Ahmed Consultant Knowledge Management, Department of Municipal Affairs, President of World Association for Sustainable Development in the UK, presented a paperwork entitled “Managing Knowledge and Innovation in the 21^st Century and the Roadmap to Sustainability in the Arab Countries” saying that Sustainable development is becoming increasingly a major concern for all Arab countries and consequently knowledge system and knowledge economy seem to open up new and varied avenues to be explored in the direction of sustainability.

Professor Amer Al-Roubaie  Dean, College of Business and Finance ,Ahila University, Kingdom of Bahrain presented a paper on Building Capacity for a Knowledge Society in the Arab World saying the knowledge society has been largely associated with knowledge absorption and information dissemination. It is driven by knowledge creation, technologies learning and lifelong. So far the Arab world has not been able to make break through and achieve high level of readiness for promoting a knowledge society.

Among other speakers Professor Jerry Kolo Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, American University of Sharja, UAE discussed “The Cultural Dimension of Sustainable Development: Implications for Strategy Development in the UAE saying that among the critical factors for effective sustainable development strategies is cultural conceptuality such as in the UAE where is influenced by the forces of technology, globalization, tourism, and knowledge transfer.

The Forum highlighted some of the obstacles needed to be dealt with in order to enhance knowledge management and innovation in the Arab World saying the Arab economies need to achieve more knowledge management orientation and to enhance competition on international stage.