Will Egypt finally join the international Knowledge Economy? Sherine El-Madany listens in on a recent seminar Egypt needs to transform its classical economy into a knowledge-based economy to keep up with the technological developments of the information age, according to guest speakers at the Knowledge Economy Conference held last week at Cairo University. "In a knowledge economy, the country's efficient production relies on information and technology rather than tools and land," Amir Alfonse, economics professor at Ain Shams University, Faculty of Commerce, explained. "That way, Egypt will be able to keep up with global economic developments." The Centre for the Study of Developing Countries (CSDC) at Cairo University organised the conference bringing together leading experts in economics, engineering, and political science to examine how Egypt might go about adopting a knowledge economy. "Knowledge economy is now the world's focus," said Ahmed Abdel-Wanis, head of the CSDC. "The centre has therefore designed this event to broaden our understanding of the importance of technology in promoting our economy." Speakers discussed how Egypt might acquire a knowledge economy and emphasised the need to improve the current educational system as a first step towards progress. "Instead of encouraging memorisation, the educational system has to help students become more creative and interest them in using technological advances such as the Internet," said Kamal El-Menufi, chairman of the CSDC board. "We will only come to be a knowledge economy if our society values technology." However, various speakers highlighted the obstacles that stand in the way of Egypt's becoming a fully knowledge-based economy. Economist Ashraf El-Arabi said that Egypt devoted few resources to scientific research, and national universities lacked proper investment in research projects that were essential to success in the information age. "As a result, Egypt has lost most of its highly skilled and experienced professionals abroad," El-Arabi lamented. "Engineers, doctors and scientists have all gone in search of greener pastures -- what we call the 'brain drain'." He also pointed out that this flight of talent was further exacerbated by factors ranging from social instability to excessive bureaucracy and the prevalence of corruption. "Some Egyptian students who receive an education in Western countries know that Egypt does not support scientific research and lacks proper labs and utilities, so they choose not to come back," El-Arabi explained. "Thus, this brain drain creates a significant knowledge gap in Egypt, which deprives us of vital technical know-how." El-Arabi suggested various solutions to the brain drain problem, including establishing a network linking Egypt with its Diaspora community to act as an "emigrant think-tank" and exchange useful information with their motherland. "Israel, unlike Egypt, has managed to attract their skilled students who study abroad to return to their country, because it finances scientific research projects essential to their work," El- Arabi added. Abdallah Shehata, professor of economics at Cairo University, also depicted Israel as a success story in pursuing the knowledge economy, compared to most Arab countries. He said that the government of Israel had played a major role in financing and creating a scientific and technological environment that enabled its scientists to promote further development. "While Israel was busy inventing highly developed weapons, most Arab countries were busy wasting their money on discovering young singers, as if we can use their talents during times of war," Shehata said.
