Knowledge Project.. The Fruit of a Partnership of MBRF and UNDP

The Knowledge Project aims to promote knowledge-based societies and policies as transformative means for achieving sustainable development, and contributes to promoting effective dialogue and raising awareness on the importance of knowledge and knowledgebased policies for sustainable development.

The project also promotes the use of knowledge productions, specif ically the Global Knowledge Index, as tools for change, in addition to their widespread use in policy discussions.

The partnership between the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) was launched with the establishment of the Arab Knowledge Project in 2008. The partnership is built on a common vision focused on promoting sustainable knowledge-based development in the Arab region and beyond.

Since 2008, the project has moved from the stage of theoretical studies seeking to extrapolate the cognitive status, to the stage of monitoring, actual and quantitative analysis of the knowledge landscape of countries, then to foresight knowledge future around the world. This allows the various fields in politics, academy, research as well as industrial and economic circles to build well-thought-out policies supported by data and scientific evidence, and to evaluate any progress or regression in the seven sectors adopted by the Global Knowledge Index, namely, pre-university education, technical and vocational education and training (TVET), higher education, research, development and innovation (RDI), information and communications technology (ICT), and economy, in addition to the general enabling environment.

Knowledge has role as a tool
and mediator in the effective
integration of information and
communication technology,
expertise and governance in
order to achieve the greatest
sustainable level of human
development.

Within the framework of this partnership, the Knowledge Project launched three reports focusing on knowledge from a development perspective in the Arab region. Arab Knowledge Reports focused on contributing to the establishment of a knowledge society and economy in the Arab region. By the knowledge society, we mean a society in which knowledge plays the role of a tool and a mediator in the effective integration of information and communication technology, expertise and governance in order to achieve the greatest sustainable level of human development.

This led to the development and issuance of the Arab Knowledge Index (2015 and 2016), which ref lects knowledge from the perspective of development in the Arab region, taking into account the particularity of the Arab region, its cultural contexts, needs and challenges, as well as focusing on the pivotal role of Arab youths as one of the most important elements necessary for building societies. Within the framework of the broader vision of the Arab Knowledge Index, the Arab Reading Index (2016) was published to provide an objective assessment of the state of reading in the Arab region.

The positive impact of the Arab Knowledge Index has led to the development of the Global Knowledge Index (issued so far in 2017, 2018 and 2019), which is the only index that measures knowledge worldwide as a comprehensive concept closely related to sustainable development and the various dimensions of contemporary human life.

The Global Knowledge Index is the only one
that measures knowledge worldwide as a
comprehensive concept closely related to
sustainable development.

At a time when the Global Knowledge Index measures the current state of knowledge, the Future of Knowledge: A Foresight Report (issued so far in 2018 and 2019) includes a new tool for measuring knowledge using big data, as it aims to better understand how current societies are moving and transforming.

The Knowledge for All platform was launched in 2015, and the smartphone application in 2016.

It is noteworthy that in September 2019, the United Nations Development Program signed a new 10-year agreement (2021-2030) with the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation within the framework of the Knowledge Project at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, to enhance thought leadership and policy-making based on evidence for sustainable development in the Arab region and around the world.

Global Knowledge Index

The Global Knowledge Index is a roadmap for the sustainable development of societies. It helps countries to formulate proactive thinking strategies to support and enhance knowledge as a key element in building a stronger knowledge economy while ensuring sustainable development.

The Global Knowledge Index aims to measure knowledge as a comprehensive concept closely related to the various dimensions of contemporary human life in the context of a consistent, conceptual and methodological approach.

The structure of the Global Knowledge Index reflects the multiplicity of knowledge dimensions. It is based on the assumption that the more these sectors interact with each other and are integrated in a particular country, the greater the level of knowledge.

The Future of Knowledge: A Foresight Report

The main purpose of this report is to help government leaders prepare their citizens for the future knowledge landscape and equip them with adequate skillsets. It aspires to encourage proactive leadership among all countries to ensure the continued redefinition and development of workforce skills. The continuing emergence of new technologies is pushing both employers and employees to continuously adapt to new systems and processes. Using real-time data to assess future areas of knowledge, political leaders and supportive experts are able to visualize the future needs of their citizens in an objective and effective manner.

To this end, this report presents the latest findings of the “Future of Knowledge: A Foresight Report” series, which uses an innovative tool for exploring the future of knowledge based on analyzing big data and assessing awareness of skills and technology in 40 countries. The digital intelligence platform allows the development of the Global Technology Awareness Index (GTAI) and the Future Skills Awareness Index (FSAI), and this allows the reader to compare levels of awareness in different countries and identify best practices in terms of technological advancement and future skills development. Similar to the first edition in 2018, the 2019 report also assessed the readiness of countries based on a template that contains Global Knowledge Index results with technology awareness results.

As the report recommended the four technologies: artificial intelligence, cyber security, block chain, and biotechnology are good hubs for betting and investing in the future, as they can be used to build faster and more accurate solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental, economic and social challenges, helping to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations.

In its current version, the report explores the situation in 40 countries, including the top five on the Global Knowledge Index, based on data and analyzes from 150 million digital sources, using 23 languages.

Knowledge Week

Within the knowledge project, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation and the United Nations Development Program organize a “Knowledge Week” as part of a series of workshops and seminars to promote the use of the Global Knowledge Index as a tool for change and for its wide dissemination in political discussions. The workshops target policy and decision makers, students, youth, professors, and researchers to push dialogue and increase awareness of the importance of knowledge and knowledgebased policies for sustainable development. They also aim at identifying youth potentials by exploring their innovative ideas to solve developmental and knowledge challenges to reach a knowledge society and achieve sustainable development.

The Knowledge Week achieved great success, as it brought together representatives from ministries and government departments, journalists, media professionals, researchers, representatives of the private sector and students, into working groups covering the sectors of the Global Knowledge Index. Egypt’s performance on the 2019 Global Knowledge Index was the starting point.

According to what was confirmed by His Excellency Jamal bin Huwaireb, CEO of MBRF, the Knowledge Week initiative seeks, through its partners, to involve young people in leading the building and development process, and that the Global Knowledge Index is a roadmap for sustainable development of societies.

The Future of Knowledge report includes
a new tool for measuring knowledge using
big data to analyze the transition and
transformation of current societies in the
best way.

Investing in knowledge has a positive impact on education and skills development, which is essential to ensuring the ability of young people to make sustainable change in the coming years, and paying attention to the human element in the field of science and technology is the basis for any progress.

Knowledge Products

• Knowledge Week

• Global Knowledge Index 2019

• Future of Knowledge: a Foresight Report 2019

• Global Knowledge Index 2018

• Future of Knowledge: a Foresight Report 2018

• Knowledge and the Fourth Industrial Revolution 2018

• Global Knowledge Index 2017

• Launch the Knolwedge4All knowledge-forall mobile app

• Arab Reading Index 2016

• Arab Knowledge Index 2016

• Launching of The Knowledge4All portal

• Arab Knowledge Index 2015

• Arab Knowledge Report 2014: Youth and Localization of Knowledge.

• The Arab Knowledge Report 2010/2011, ‘Preparing Future Generations for the Knowledge Society.

• Arab Knowledge Report 2009. Towards Productive Intercommunication for Knowledge.