WGS 2018: VP Of Islamic Development Bank Highlights Dubai As Prime Example Of Innovative City

 On the opening day of the sixth edition of the World Government Summit (WGS 2018) in Dubai, a lively session with five expert panelists examined the role of science, technology and innovation (STI) in driving sustainable development and economic growth.

Part of the newly launched Global Policy Platform (GPP), the session, entitled ‘STI Catalyzing Regional Development’, shed light on the role of innovation, scaled up public-private partnerships (PPPs) and tailored capacities in enabling countries to advance their development objectives.

The high-level panel featured Sayed Aqa, Vice President of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Sergei Guriev, Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Alexander Stubb, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Sir Danny Alexander, Vice President and Corporate Secretary of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and Alexandre Meira da Rosa, Vice President for Countries at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Addressing the audience, Sayed Aqa said: “This region was the hub of innovation for centuries, and it’s coming back – Dubai is the perfect example”.

“STI is nothing new, but the main challenge is now to establish mechanisms, platforms and procedures for doing business more efficiently”, he said. “Many innovations in development sprout from poor communities, but due to lack of financing, they never get implemented. To better serve these initiatives, we have to shift our mindsets and adopt both top-down and bottom-up approaches to better incorporate ideas from these communities, as well as from youth and students.”

For his part, Sergei Guriev said: “As an institution working mostly in middle-income countries, we have no doubt that the only way forward is with STI – by investing in STI and education and partnering with the private sector. Even with all the capital we represent from our various institutions, we can’t achieve all the goals of the 2030 Agenda alone, hence we need to scale innovations as well as partner more effectively with the private sector.”

From his perspective, Alexander Stubb observed that: “to achieve the 2030 Agenda, we currently need US$2.3 trillion. We as international financial institutions can’t do it alone: we need the private sector. We have to adapt to this modern world, embrace technologies in financing, and create the proper platforms to fill the current gap in finance.”