2.1 INNOVATION ENABLERS
Innovation Enabler Overview Dubai Innovation Index measures innovation enablers across the innovation ecosystem. The pillars have been defined considering all elements of the ecosystem that influence innovation. This section looks at what elements contribute to enablement of innovation and also highlights cities that are doing exceptionally well in creating the right environment for innovation. Further, the section focuses on Dubai’s current state, compared to other cities. Having understood the overall findings of the macroeconomic city-level study of Dubai, as per the Dubai Innovation Index framework, innovation is now broken into Enablers and Performance scores. Enabler scores measure the factors that create the environment for an innovative city. They measure the degree to which a city has created or is creating an environment conducive to innovation, through markers in six core ‘pillars’. A high enabler score is an indicator of how much a city is investing in aiding and supporting innovation, and also indicates how innovative it is likely to be in the future. The Political, Economic and Social (PES) environment pillar measures the stability, strength and prospects of security, the economy and population of a city. Innovation infrastructure accounts for Information and Communications Technology (ICT), institutions and environmental stability. The government pillar compares government policies, regulation and the business
1
2
3
environment. Skills and Talent measures education and higher education, while Innovation Funding tracks public and private investment and financing opportunities. The final pillar, Innovation Culture, measures the entrepreneurial environment and incentives created to stimulate innovative thinking and entrepreneurship. These six pillars are the key building blocks that allow innovation to thrive in a city, and as one would expect, appear to correlate well with an increase in innovative outputs. As these data indicators are measured through different units and scales, data points are normalized on a 0-100 scale (Please see appendix 4 for more details). This means that a value of zero is assigned to the lowest performing city and 100 is assigned to the highest ranking city, with all other cities’ relative rankings being preserved at the indicator level. Hence, a 100 score on a given indicator means that while a city is outperforming others, it may still be able to further improve its score.
4
Political, Economical & Social Environment
Government
Innovation Funding
Innovation Infrastructure
• Environment • Economic Growth • People
• Policies • Regulation • Business Environment
• Public • Private Investment • Banking
• ICT • Institutions • Environmental Stability
34
5 Skills & Talent
• Education • Higher Education
6 Innovation Culture
• Entrepreneurial • Incentives
Each of the six pillars is made up of sub-pillars, which further clarify what is being measured. Political, Economic & Social Environment: 11. Political Environment measures the stability and effectiveness of a government and the rule of law in a city. 22. Economic Growth quantifies the economic prospects and status of a city’s economy and job market. 33. People is a combination of population age, happiness and development level. Government: 11. Policies measures taxation and tariff rates in a city. 22. Regulation measures both quality and enforcement of regulation by a city’s authorities. 33. Business Environment is gauged through logistics performance and the ease of doing business Innovation Funding: 11. Public Funding gauges the financial standing of a city’s government and what amount it spends on research and development. 22. Private Investment factors in FDI, greenfield investments and venture capital deals. 33. Banking measures access to credit and the amount of credit which goes to the private sector. Innovation Infrastructure: 11. ICT factors in the amount of spending that goes to software and importing technology into a city. 22. Institutions measures the amount of research done in a city, funded both domestically and by abroad. 33. Environmental Stability calculates the energy effectiveness and environmental sustainability of a city. Skills & Talent: 11. Education primarily measures primary and secondary education factors like literacy and libraries 22. Higher Education, meanwhile, quantifies the number of top-ranking schools and assessment results for a city.
Innovation Culture: 11. Entrepreneurial culture involves measuring the attitudes, abilities and aspirations of entrepreneurs in the city, while also looking at how easy starting a business is. 22. Incentives gauges the work-life balance in a city, as well as it’s dismissal costs.
35
Innovation Enabler Rankings Enabler scores are measured in order to quantify the innovation environment being created. These scores are calculated as the average of the sub-pillar scores, those themselves averages of the data indicator scores below them. This allows for one metric to combine the various innovation enabling measures used to gauge whether a city is building an ecosystem conducive to innovation.
Rank
City
Enabler Score
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
London Hong Kong Singapore New York City Stockholm Copenhagen Seoul Zurich Sydney Toronto Tokyo Berlin Paris San Francisco Madrid Dubai Kuala Lumpur Doha Riyadh Milan Istanbul Moscow Mexico City Shanghai Beijing Johannesburg Sao Paulo Mumbai
65.01 64.17 64.09 57.34 57.31 56.90 56.60 55.76 55.40 55.14 54.74 54.02 53.93 52.96 47.03 46.48 46.36 46.09 42.15 39.85 39.55 39.53 39.39 37.45 36.75 31.46 27.74 23.13
Leader London tops the table for enabler scores, followed by Asian powerhouses Hong Kong and Singapore. Dubai ranks mid-table, leading the region ahead of Doha and Riyadh. Dubai does well in terms of government support for innovation as well as in innovation culture. It also ranks and scores highly for political and economic stability. Dubai must continue to develop these strengths, while concurrently focusing on weaker areas like innovation infrastructure and skills and talent, so that it can continue to strive to become a world leader in innovation.
The enabler scores indicate that Dubai ranks above average for government support and innovation culture, mid-table for PES and innovation funding and below average for skills & talent and innovation infrastructure. Rank
36
London
Hong Kong
Singapore
Seoul
New York City
Tokyo
Stockholm
Zurich
Copenhagen
Paris
Toronto
Sydney
San Francisco
Berlin
Kuala Lumpur
Dubai
Shanghai
Beijing
Doha
Riyadh
Madrid
Istanbul
Moscow
Mexico City
Milan
Sao Paulo
Johannesburg
Mumbai
0
Figure 2.1.1: Cities ranked by enabler score
75.70
Singapore
94.88 New York City 60.41
2
Hong Kong
64.17
Singapore
72.62
Hong Kong
85.81
Hong Kong
3
Singapore
64.09
Hong Kong
71.82 Copenhagen 85.27
New York City 57.34
Stockholm
71.17
London
Tokyo
70.73
Stockholm
Sydney
70.19
Toronto
81.93
Mexico City
Stockholm
57.31
Copenhagen 56.90
Skills and Talent
Innovation Culture
London
62.18
Hong Kong
71.52
Stockholm
75.76
58.58
Tokyo
55.37
Seoul
70.93
Istanbul
73.81
Singapore
56.14
Paris
47.38
Moscow
63.83
Berlin
73.77
London
53.51
Hong Kong
46.84
Singapore
63.40
Paris
72.73
82.07 San Francisco 44.73 New York City 41.41 Copenhagen 59.09
Seoul
71.99
83.52
43.27
Singapore
37.53
Zurich
57.19
London
71.43
Sydney
56.50
Doha
71.04
7
Seoul
56.60
Toronto
69.61
Berlin
79.07
Riyadh
42.48 San Francisco 33.34
8
Zurich
55.76
Berlin
68.74
Zurich
78.68
Sydney
41.96
Seoul
33.33
Berlin
9
Sydney
55.40 Copenhagen 67.45
Sydney
77.42 Kuala Lumpur 40.98
Zurich
31.73
London
55.56
Madrid
68.01
10
Toronto
55.14 Kuala Lumpur 64.38 New York City 74.65
11
Tokyo
54.74
London
12
Berlin
54.02
13
Paris
53.93
55.71 Copenhagen 68.38
Seoul
40.62
Madrid
31.62
Stockholm
53.82
Toronto
65.96
63.85 San Francisco 74.65
Moscow
36.51
Toronto
31.33
Paris
52.49
Zurich
64.65
Doha
63.49
Dubai
69.70
Mumbai
35.83
Stockholm
29.11
Toronto
52.48
Dubai
64.06
Seoul
63.43
Tokyo
69.19 Copenhagen 33.49
Berlin
28.44
Madrid
51.95
Riyadh
61.03
San Francisco 52.96 San Francisco 62.78
Paris
64.14 Johannesburg 32.05 Copenhagen 27.74
Tokyo
49.16 Kuala Lumpur 60.89
Doha
62.24
15
Madrid
47.03
16
Dubai
46.48 New York City 59.57 Johannesburg 61.39
17
20
Innovation Infrastructure
Zurich
14
40
Innovation Funding
65.01
6
60
Government
London
5
INNOVATION SCORE BY CITY
Political, Economical and Social Environment
1
4
Table 2.1.1: Cities ranked by enabler score
Enabler Score
Kuala Lumpur 46.36
Paris
62.62
27.31 New York City 47.82
Milan
Tokyo
31.79
Sydney
25.51
Shanghai
45.57 New York City 60.16 45.57 San Francisco 60.16
57.99
Seoul
59.31
Dubai
31.74
Shanghai
24.53
Beijing
57.94
Madrid
58.92
Sao Paulo
30.38
Beijing
24.27
Milan
Doha
46.09
Shanghai
19
Riyadh
42.15
Beijing
20
Milan
39.85
21
Istanbul
22
60.84
31.95
Dubai
18
Sydney
Stockholm
43.83
Singapore
59.98
Milan
56.49
54.73 Kuala Lumpur 51.90
Toronto
29.54 Kuala Lumpur 24.02 San Francisco 42.12
Milan
54.59
Milan
51.41
Zurich
26.62
Mexico City
23.80
Istanbul
40.80
Moscow
55.52
39.55
Madrid
52.80
Riyadh
45.26
Shanghai
25.62
Sao Paulo
21.39
Riyadh
39.13
Mexico City
54.57
Moscow
39.53
Riyadh
48.96
Istanbul
45.14
Istanbul
25.23
Istanbul
18.19
Dubai
37.99
Tokyo
52.22
23
Mexico City
39.39
Mexico City
46.79
Moscow
37.69
Beijing
24.89
Moscow
17.81
Doha
37.53
Hong Kong
50.46
24
Shanghai
37.45
Mumbai
44.67
Mexico City
35.29
Doha
24.42
Doha
17.80 Kuala Lumpur 36.02
Shanghai
50.40
25
Beijing
36.75
Sao Paulo
44.56
Shanghai
20.62
Paris
24.22
Dubai
17.39
Mexico City
Beijing
50.40
Istanbul
34.14
Beijing
20.62
Madrid
18.86
Riyadh
16.02
Sao Paulo
Moscow
25.81
Sao Paulo
12.69
Berlin
18.42 Johannesburg 10.17 Johannesburg 14.46
Mumbai
6.61
Milan
5.47
26
Johannesburg 31.46
27
Sao Paulo
28
Mumbai
27.74
23.13 Johannesburg 24.21
Mumbai
3.08
Table 2.1.2 : Cities ranked by innovation enablers scores
37
Mumbai
32.64
25.98 Johannesburg 46.51
2.92
Mumbai
45.68
Sao Paulo
31.42
Innovation Enablers Dubai’s position on the map
LONDON Infrastructure 62.18
Dubai’s government, culture and political and economic stability and are the key innovation enablers that contribute to an innovation ecosystem. Enabler pillar-level score rankings for Dubai range between 12 and 25. Based on the macro data analysis, Dubai ranks 17th on the political, economical and social environment pillar. Although the city scores well under political environment, poor economic growth, low GDP per capita change and below average rankings on the people index lower Dubai’s PES Environment score to 57.99.
Although government expenditure on education per pupil is relatively high in Dubai, the city ranks 22nd in the Skills and Talent pillar. Dubai has an insufficient number of libraries and a relatively low adult literacy rate. Thus, an improvement in the quality of higher education and development of better universities is urgently required to build skills and talent within the city and to facilitate innovation in the region.
Dubai ranks low across indicators of ICT (#27) and institutions for R&D and Innovation (#26). The only well performing attribute is environmental performance. However, environment performance on its own is not good enough since energy sustainability remains an area of concern for improvement. Thus, lack of good ICT infrastructure, poor environmental stability & energy performance, together with inadequate expenditure on research and development has led Dubai to score among the lowest five cities on the innovation infrastructure pillar.
Although Dubai is the financial hub for the MENA region3, it ranks 17th for funding. The main reason for this is difficulty in getting credit from banks and difficulty in provision of domestic credit to private sector. Furthermore, low inward FDI flow and an insufficient number of venture capital deals further lowers Dubai’s enabler score. An improvement in private investments and the banking sector will help improve the city’s overall innovation funding score, and thus enable innovation through provision of funds.
On a positive note, Dubai ranks 12th on the government pillar. Dubai ranks #22 on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index1. This can be attributed not just to a good regulatory quality and regulatory enforcement environment, but also to low tax rates (3%), low trade tariff duties (4.1%) and supportive government policies that are favourable to innovation and that push up Dubai’s government score to 69.70. Dubai’s supply chain and logistics industry has evolved tremendously over the years. A further improvement in logistics performance is required to improve the city’s business environment rankings. One step taken recently to facilitate this was the inauguration of Emirates SkyCargo’s state-of-the-art cargo terminal at the Logistics District in Dubai South on 10th November, 20152.
38
Finally, Dubai scores above average and ranks 12th on the innovation culture pillar. Culture of innovation is evaluated across two dimensions, the prevalence of an entrepreneurial culture and the extent of non-monetary incentives for employees. Dubai scores fairly well for an entrepreneurial culture, ranking midway across 28 cities, hence there is room for improvement in order to develop a more entrepreneurial environment which can be compared to the likes of that in New York, San Francisco, Sydney and London which rank amongst the best cities for entrepreneurs. However, Dubai performs significantly well in terms of non-monetary benefits for employees except for the low cost of redundancy dismissal in Dubai which makes retention of talent challenging. This is also highlighted as a key challenge by private sector employees responding to the survey. The scores from the six pillars resonate in Dubai’s enabler pillar score and bring the city’s overall enabler score to 46.48 (#16).
NEW YORK CITY Funding 65.99
STOCKHOLM Culture 75.76
HONG KONG Skills & Talent 71.52
ZURICH PES Environment 75.70
SINGAPORE Government 94.88
ZURICH PES Environment 75.70
Zurich attracts businesses and employees because of its high quality of life and its attractive educational and employment opportunities. It offers political and economic stability, legal certainty, healthy public finances coupled with comparatively moderate taxes and the stable Swiss currency, as well as premier services backed by a strong service culture. The Zurich region also boasts top-flight educational institutions, well developed infrastructure and a flexible job market with highly qualified workers.
SINGAPORE Government 94.88
Singapore’s largely corruption-free government, skilled workforce, government initiatives and advanced and efficient infrastructure have attracted investments from more than 3000 MNCs from around the world. Initiatives such as the TradeFIRST assessment framework that integrates facilitation, compliance and risk management, and TradeNet, the national electronic system that enables one-stop submission of documents ranks Singapore 2nd in logistics performance. Public-private initiatives like Blk71, an innovative start-up ecosystem and community, further bolster it’s rank.
NEW YORK CITY Innovation Funding 65.99
As the home of Wall Street, it’s fitting that New York City (NYC) ranked highest for funding. This is in part due to it’s ranking 2nd in ease of getting credit. New York, one of the top financial centres of the world, attracted $1.93 billion in VC money in the second quarter of 2015, up 56 percent from a year earlier and second only to Silicon Valley’s $9.3 billion total.
LONDON Innovation Infrastructure 62.18
The UK ranks 7th in the world for overall level of R&D spending, and London is a hub for this. It also leads the world in software spending and boasts world-class educational institutes. An example of this commitment to innovation is the city’s transportation system, Transport for London (TfL). TfL is committed to syndicating open data to third parties and engaging developers to deliver and innovate using this data. Thousands of developers can now work on designing and building applications, services and tools, effectively crowdsourcing innovation.
HONG KONG Skills & Talent 71.52
Hong Kong has shown a keen dedication to education and skill-building, it’s total budgeted government expenditure on education in the 2015-16 financial year is $79.3 billion, representing 18% of total government expenditure. More directly, the government has extended free education in public sector schools from nine years to twelve years since 2008/09. Additionally, initiatives like The Innovation and Technology Fund’s R&D Internship Programme, which in 2015 approved over 1766 interns, show it’s commitment to aiding in the development of its human capital.
STOCKHOLM Innovation Culture 64.65
Stockholm is a hub of entrepreneurial culture and continues to establish new resources that will solidify their position as one of the world’s leading startup hubs. One such resource is SUP46 (StartUP People of Sweden) community that was created to encourage and motivate innovation. Modeled after the famous Google campus, they are providing entrepreneurs a place to capitalize on the Swedish ideology of sharing resources and ideas.
39
How Dubai compares with global leaders and laggards across all innovation enabler pillars. PES Highest
Country
Score
Zurich
75.70
Lowest Johannesburg 24.21 Dubai #17
Dubai
Government Dubai ranked mid-way between the highest and lowest for political and environmental stability.
57.99
Country
Score
Highest
Singapore
94.88
Lowest
Mumbai
6.61
Dubai #12
Dubai
69.70
Innovation Funding Country
Score
Highest New York City 60.41 Lowest
Milan
5.47
Dubai #17
Dubai
31.74
Innovation Infrastructure
Dubai scored mid-range (31.74) in terms of funding availability as well, when compared to financial hub and leader New York City (60.41), however faired considerably better than Milan (5.47), which scored lowest.
Country
Score
Highest
London
62.18
Lowest
Mumbai
3.08
Dubai #25
Dubai
17.39
Skills & Talent Country
Score
Highest
Hong Kong
71.52
Lowest
Mumbai
2.92
Dubai #22
Dubai
37.99
Dubai has room to improve in terms of innovation infrastructure, however, as it scored closer to the lower end (17.39) when compared against cities like London (which ranked highest).
Innovation Culture
Skills and talent (37.99) was another area in which Dubai had room for improvement, scoring mid-range (37.99) when compared to number one ranked city Hong Kong.
Country
Score
Highest
Hong Kong
71.52
Lowest
Mumbai
2.92
Dubai #12
Dubai
37.99
Table 2.1.3: Key innovation enabler scores
Dubai’s overall scores are generally closer to the ‘best’ scores, with innovation infrastructure and innovation funding being the only pillars in which Dubai trends closer to the lower-end of the spectrum. This is a great sign for a city that is actively working towards becoming more innovative, and indicates that Dubai will only continue to be more innovative.
Dubai scored (69.70) and ranked (12) highly for government, as Dubai’s government both supports and initiates innovation in the city.
Innovation culture was a strong point for Dubai (64.06), scoring much closer to the leader in this pillar, Stockholm (75.76).
PES: 75.7
100 Innovation Culture 75.7
Innovation Infrastructure 62.18
50 0
Innovation Funding 60.41
Best
Worst
Government 94.88 Skills & Talent 71.52
40
Dubai
Figure 2.1.2: How Dubai compares
Innovation Enabler - Key Insights Political, Economic and Social Environment Political, Economic and Social (PES) Environment measures a city’s political environment, its economic growth over the past year, and demographic elements ideal for innovation. Political Environment serves as a good enabling measure because innovation flourishes with an effective, safe and stable government and political climate. Economic Growth means that the market has the traction and ability to reward innovators, as well as an environment conducive to the growth of new businesses or initiatives. Finally, People scores measure the happiness (indicators include standard of living and environmental sustainability) of a city’s residents, as well as working-age population. Happy, working-age people will have the ability and drive to innovate, especially in a climate which can reward them for thier contribution. In summary, PES measures the political and economic stability and climate that forms a part of the key basis for innovation. The highest ranking city overall for the PES pillar is to high scores in all but demographics. Moving into environment sub-pillar, Singapore ranks highest highly effective and stable government. Mumbai,
Zurich, due the political due to its meanwhile,
Innovation Enabler - Key Insights Political, Economic and Social Environment
ranked lowest due to crime, low rule of law and low government effectiveness, which gauges corruption, credibility and quality of policies. Dubai scores well in all of the aforementioned measures within the political environment sub-pillar, not far away from the top three and ranking tenth for the political environment sub-pillar Kuala Lumpur is the current leader in economic growth, with high GDP growth rates and low unemployment rates. Dubai’s neighbour Doha is second, with very low unemployment, while Moscow scores the lowest due to a lack of GDP growth. GDP growth is a weakness that Dubai will likely see improvement as the global economic climate recovers. Shanghai, London and Tokyo rank as the top three cities for people scores, while Dubai scores fairly low, ahead of only Doha and Johannesburg. Dubai’s low score is partially due to it’s relatively low working-age (15-64) population when compared to cities like Shanghai and Beijing. Another area of improvement for Dubai is on the Happy Planet Index, which accounts for global data on life expectancy, expected well-being and ecological footprint.
COUNTRIES ACROSS THE SCORES SPECTRUM
High Singapore (97.46) Zurich (94.00) Copenhagen (92.01) Kuala Lumpur (90.21) Doha (88.57) Mumbai (81.12) Shanghai (69.54) London (66.05) Tokyo (65.70)
Political Environment
Economic Growth
People
Low Mumbai (7.81) Mexico City (15.74) Moscow (17.39) Moscow (17.39) Istanbul (18.25) Johannesburg (23.73) Johannesburg (15.60) Doha (25.74) Dubai (34.02)
2
City
Political Environment
Economic Growth
People
PES Score
Singapore
97.46
65.72
54.68
72.62
Zurich
3
Hong Kong
5
Tokyo
4 6
Stockholm Sydney
7
Toronto
9
Copenhagen
8 10 11 12 13
Berlin
Kuala Lumpur London Doha
Seoul
San Francisco
16
New York City
Dubai
18
Shanghai
80.19
20
15 17 19
59.76
Dubai
Beijing Milan
86.66 91.63 88.21 84.99 88.84 81.60 92.01 64.88 75.16 76.15 56.92 73.33 69.56 73.33 80.19 36.11 36.11 52.16
Madrid
23
Mexico City
25
Sao Paulo
27.45
27
Moscow
17.39
24 26
34.02
Paris
94.00
21 22
28
Table 2.1.4: Top PES scores
Riyadh
Mumbai Istanbul
Johannesburg
58.86 25.38 15.74 7.81
24.66 33.30
80 60 40
ZURICH 75.70
Figure 2.1.3: PES score rankings
42
Zurich
Singapore
Hong Kong
Stockholm
Tokyo
Sydney
Toronto
Berlin
Copenhagen
Kuala Lumpur
London
Doha
Seoul
San Francisco
Paris
New York City
Dubai
Shanghai
Beijing
Milan
Madrid
Riyadh
Mexico City
Mumbai
Sao Paulo
Istanbul
0
Moscow
20
Johannesburg
Score (0-100)
1
14
For detailed scores for each city, refer to appendix 1
SUB-PILLAR
Rank
PES Environment 71.01 75.52 66.13 58.29 67.70 61.44 63.32 65.39 90.21 50.35 88.57 69.26 68.35 61.90 49.66 59.76 68.16 63.29 57.75 46.33 65.66 65.35 81.12 43.84 18.25 15.73 23.73
Table 2.1.5: Cities ranked by PES score
62.08 53.29 55.74 65.70 57.89 58.55 61.30 44.93 38.03 66.05 25.74 64.12 46.66 56.39 55.73 34.02 69.54 64.78 53.87 53.19 55.85 59.29 45.07 62.39 59.53 44.31 15.60
75.70 71.82 71.17 70.73 70.19 69.61 68.74 67.45 64.38 63.85 63.49 63.43 62.78 62.62 59.57 57.99 57.94 54.73 54.59 52.80 48.96 46.79 44.67 44.56 34.14 25.81 24.21
• High quality of life and attractive educational and employment opportunities which attracts businessmen and employees • High political and economic stability, legal certainty, healthy public finances coupled with comparatively moderate taxes and the stable Swiss currency, as well as world-renowned banking services backed by a strong service culture • Sound political environment
DUBAI 57.99
• But low economic growth indicated by low GDP per capita change • Low Happy Planet Index score based on life expectancy, expected well-being and ecological footprint, which refers to the impact of a person on the environment or the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources.
43
Innovation Enabler - Key Insights Government
Innovation Enabler - Key Insights Government Government support through policies, regulations, and other factors have a big influence on the private sector and business environment. Good governance plays a tremendous role in cultivating and developing an innovative environment, and hence is a key factor for enabling innovation. Government was hence divided into three sub-pillars, policy, regulation and business environment. Policies reflected tax and tariff rates, as these may reduce budgets for R&D and other innovative programs and incentives. Regulation was measured for both quality and enforcement, as low quality or enforcement will likely mean corruption, red-tape or other issues will plague businesses, preventing them from focusing on or pursuing innovation. Finally, business environment measures the ease of doing business and the performance of logistics in the city, as these will also allow companies to focus on innovation. The clear leader in rankings for the overall government pillar and sub-pillars has been Singapore. Moving into
specific sub-pillar scores, Dubai ranks amongst the top three, at the third position, due to it’s favourable tax and tariff rates. In scores for regulation as well, the clear leader in this regard is Singapore, while Mumbai scored extremely low. Dubai, however, in both quality and enforcement ranked near the middle of the table, indicating that Dubai has some improvements to make in terms of regulatory enforcement, timeliness and soundness. Singapore leads in terms of business environment, while Mumbai ranks lowest. From Dubai’s business environment score emerged a weak score in logistic performance, with Dubai ranking in 18th place, alongside Shanghai, Beijing, Doha, and Istanbul. Dubai needs to maintain it’s favourable government policies, however potentially improve its regulations and logistics performance to better compete with higher scoring cities like Singapore.
For detailed scores for each city, refer to appendix 1
SUB-PILLAR
COUNTRIES ACROSS THE SCORES SPECTRUM
Policies
Regulations
Business Environment
High Singapore (88.20) Hong Kong (85.00) Dubai (83.82) Singapore (100.00) Stockholm (93.02) Copenhagen (89.56) Singapore (96.43) Berlin (95.39) London (93.95)
Low Sao Paolo (4.26) Mumbai (5.53) Beijing/Shanghai (9.77) Mumbai (0.00) Beijing/Shanghai (5.09) Riyadh (13.73) Mumbai (14.29) Sao Paolo (14.94) Moscow (28.37)
1 2
7
Berlin
6 8 9
10
Toronto Zurich
Sydney
New York City
San Francisco
13
Tokyo
15
Doha
12 14 16
Dubai Paris
Johannesburg Seoul
Madrid
19
Kuala Lumpur
21
Riyadh
24 25 26 27 28
80
London
11
23
71.12
85.00
Stockholm
22
54.17
Hong Kong
Singapore
5
4
20
83.82
Policies
Copenhagen
18
Dubai
City (Country)
3
17
Table 2.1.6: Top government scores
Milan
Istanbul
Moscow
Mexico City Shanghai Beijing
Sao Paulo Mumbai
88.20 78.03 72.20 60.31 76.11 60.76 69.50 57.32 63.67 63.67 83.82 55.30 47.28 77.53 56.06 50.98 53.64 54.51 48.19 74.80 50.61 42.73 29.32 9.77 9.77 4.26 5.53
Government Regulations
Business Environment
Government Score
83.86
88.58
85.81
100.00 89.56 84.41 93.02 82.13 81.05 84.00 88.85 69.56 69.56 54.17 69.33 66.49 48.00 68.00 42.66 48.75 25.09 39.83 13.73 25.39 41.97 25.73 5.09 5.09
18.87 0.00
96.43 88.22 93.95 92.88 87.54 95.39 82.55 86.09 90.73 90.73 71.12 82.93 78.65 61.20 60.11 84.30 74.37 76.11 66.21 47.26 59.42 28.37 50.81 47.01 47.01 14.94 14.29
94.88 85.27 83.52 82.07 81.93 79.07 78.68 77.42 74.65 74.65 69.70 69.19 64.14 62.24 61.39 59.31 58.92 51.90 51.41 45.26 45.14 37.69 35.29 20.62 20.62 12.69 6.61
Table 2.1.7: Cities ranked by government score
60 40 20
Figure 2.1.4: Government score rankings
44
Singapore
Hong Kong
Copenhagen
London
Stockholm
Toronto
Berlin
Zurich
Sydney
New York City
San Francisco
Dubai
Tokyo
Paris
Doha
Johannesburg
Seoul
Madrid
Kuala Lumpur
Milan
Riyadh
Istanbul
Moscow
Mexico City
Shanghai
Beijing
Sao Paulo
0
Mumbai
Score (0-100)
Rank
• Corruption-free government, skilled workforce, and advanced & efficient infrastructure have attracted large SINGAPORE amounts of investments from MNCs around the world 94.88 • TradeFIRST assessment framework that integrates policy facilitation, compliance and risk management, and TradeNet, the electronic national portal that enables one-stop submission of documents
DUBAI 69.70
• High regulatory quality, low tax rates and low trade tariff result in a relatively high rank for Dubai for the Government pillar • Low scores for logistics performance and lack of integrated initiatives, as seen in Singapore, hold Dubai back from achieving a higher rank
45
Innovation Enabler - Key Insights Innovation Funding
Innovation Enabler - Key Insights Innovation Funding
Innovation relies on having access to capital and resources. Hence, innovation funding is measured through three key sources. First Public measures the current state of a city’s government’s funds and spending on R&D. Private investment looks at inward FDI, as well as the value of greenfield and venture capital deals in a city, giving an insight into how accessible private funding is in a city. Finally, banking looks into the ease of getting credit, as well as what amount of domestic credit is being extended to the private sector, which serves as a gauge of credit accessibility in a city. Innovation funding measures whether business leaders and the private sector is able to source the financing to support innovation. Financial hub New York City ranked highest overall for Funding, primarily due to it’s high banking score. In terms of sub-pillar scores, Riyadh ranked highest in public financing, though a lack of data on central government debt and R&D spend also aided it’s score. Tokyo, meanwhile, ranked lowest, with high amounts of debt and
relatively low R&D spend. Dubai ranked highly (fourth) in terms of public funding, ranking fourth, though again, was aided by a lack of data for government debt and R&D spend, an area that other metrics have highlighted for improvement. Due to its private funding, Singapore ranked highest metric, with a private sector that actively invests in greenfield projects, while Johannesburg ranked lowest for private funding. Dubai ranked far lower in terms of private investment, due to the low number of venture capital deals and still developing inward FDI flow. In terms of Banking, the home of Wall Street, New York City ranked highest, due to the ease of access to credit and the high amounts of domestic credit given to the private sector. In the region, Doha scored lowest, while Dubai ranked second lowest, with the low amount of domestic credit given to the private sector standing out as an area for improvement.
For detailed scores for each city, refer to appendix 1
SUB-PILLAR
COUNTRIES ACROSS THE SCORES SPECTRUM
Public
Private Investment
Banking
High Riyadh (100.00) Moscow (94.22) Mexico City (76.97) Singapore (61.42) Hong Kong (52.92) New York City (47.67) New York City (86.70) Tokyo (83.36) London (68.22)
Low Tokyo (0.00) Beijing/Shanghai (41.21) Zurich (43.43) Johannesburg (1.11) Milan (1.22) Zurich (1.32) Doha (0.19) Moscow (8.46) Milan (9.73)
Dubai
5 6 7
Hong Kong
67.99
52.92
54.82
58.58
London
San Francisco Mexico City
46.87 56.09 47.20 46.87 76.97
100.00
9
Kuala Lumpur
65.79
11
Moscow
10 12 13
Sydney Seoul
Mumbai
Copenhagen
14
Johannesburg
16
Tokyo
15
Stockholm
21
Shanghai
23
Beijing
Istanbul Doha Paris
26
Madrid
28
Milan
27
60
Berlin
23.14 23.41 4.86
50.91
56.14
68.22 64.18 29.43 22.58
18.15
71.09
3.05
33.36
1.11
34.46
94.22 61.76 60.58 62.21
6.90 6.84 2.42 3.48
0.00
12.01
66.86
13.40
43.43
1.32
60.40
Zurich
45.10
60.41
46.77
Toronto
20
61.42
86.70
12.28
75.79
Sao Paulo
47.67
65.11
Dubai
18
25
80
Innovation Funding Score
Riyadh
8
24 11.40
Banking
Singapore
4
22
8.03
Private Investment
3
19
75.79
Public
New York City
2
Innovation Funding
City
1
17
Table 2.1.8: Top innovation funding scores
8.03
20.11
41.21
10.99
41.21
9.64
58.68 71.13
3.65 1.93
48.48 50.25 56.93 8.46
36.28 30.17 83.36 11.40 10.89 38.97 35.10 24.67 13.35 23.82 0.19
53.27
12.51
35.94
59.22
1.33
35.50
62.67 47.32
7.36 1.22
Table 2.1.9: Cities ranked by innovation funding score
30.37 9.73
53.51 44.73 43.27 42.48 41.96 40.98 40.62 36.51 35.83 33.49 32.05 31.95 31.79 31.74 30.38 29.54 26.62 25.62 25.23 24.89 24.42 24.22 18.86 18.42 5.47
40 20
Figure 2.1.5: Innovation funding score rankings
46
New York City
Hong Kong
Singapore
London
San Francisco
Mexico City
Riyadh
Sydney
Kuala Lumpur
Seoul
Moscow
Mumbai
Copenhagen
Johannesburg
Stockholm
Tokyo
Dubai
Sao Paulo
Toronto
Zurich
Shanghai
Istanbul
Beijing
Doha
Paris
Madrid
Berlin
0
Milan
Score (0-100)
Rank
NEW YORK CITY 60.41
DUBAI 31.74
• The World Bank Group ranks New York city 2nd in the ease of getting credit ranking • CB Insights reports New York City attracted $1.93 billion in VC money in the second quarter of 2015, up 56 percent from a year earlier • Ease of getting credit and provision of domestic credit to private sector are low scoring indicators • Low inward FDI flow and a relatively low amount of venture capital deals also contribute to low innovation funding scores
47
Innovation Enabler - Key Insights Innovation Infrastructure
Innovation Enabler - Key Insights Innovation Infrastructure
For innovation to flourish in any environment, innovation infrastructure is essential. Key measures of innovation infrastructure are Information and Communication Technology (ICT), institutions (through R&D spend) and environmental stability, as they are all quantifiable. Higher software spending and importing ICT goods indicate that cities are investing in technology and internet connectivity, both of which drive innovation. Meanwhile, Institutions measured the amount of money being spent on research and development in a city, as this is a valuable source of innovation in any city. Finally, Environmental Stability measures energy efficiency, sustainability and performance, as these are all issues that forward-thinking cities are dealing with. Overall the innovation infrastructure pillar measures the resources and tools available to innovators within a city, as these are driving factors in creating the platform for innovation. For the overall innovation infrastructure pillar ranking, London leads, with the highest innovation infrastructure score followed by Tokyo.
Moving on to specific sub-pillar scores, Hong Kong ranked the highest in terms of ICT, however Dubai ranked as the second lowest, ahead of only Mumbai. Dubai’s low spending on computer software is an area of improvement, however data for ICT imports was unavailable. London, Tokyo and New York City ranked the highest for research and development spend, while Dubai tied with Riyadh and Sao Paulo for lowest, however increased spending in development of R&D is likely to increase this score. Zurich was the highest ranking city in terms of environmental sustainability, while Mumbai ranked lowest. Dubai scored better in terms of environmental stability, where it did well in the Environmental Performance Index which measures direct impact on the environment, however energy sustainability and efficiency remain areas of improvement.
For detailed scores for each city, refer to appendix 1
SUB-PILLAR
COUNTRIES ACROSS THE SCORES SPECTRUM
ICT
Institutions
Environmental Stability
High Hong Kong (60.58) Tokyo (56.66) London (54.85) London (59.11) Tokyo (52.69) New York City (46.05) Zurich (82.80) Hong Kong (74.30) London (72.58)
Low Mumbai (1.80) Dubai (2.71) Doha (3.94) Dubai (0.00) Riyadh (0.00) Sao Paolo (0.00) Mumbai (7.27) Beijing/Singapore (18.94) Johannesburg (20.92)
Rank
City
ICT
Institutions
Environmental Stability
Innovation Infrastructure Score
1
London
54.85
59.11
72.58
62.18
Paris
47.90
32.85
61.40
47.38
2 3 4
7
San Francisco
8 9
10
16
Sydney
15
Shanghai
46.77
19
Kuala Lumpur
21
Sao Paulo
26
London
Tokyo
Paris
Hong Kong
New York City
8.95
17
25
Singapore
San Francisco
Seoul
Zurich
13.30 13.76
27
Madrid
Toronto
Stockholm
Berlin
Copenhagen
Milan
Sydney
Shanghai
Beijing
Kuala Lumpur
Mexico City
Sao Paulo
Istanbul
Moscow
Doha
Dubai
Riyadh
Johannesburg
Mumbai
Berlin
26.85
Milan
28
48
6.87
Copenhagen
24
Figure 2.1.6: Innovation infrastructure score rankings
21.82
32.28
14
13
60
0
24.60
14.30
Toronto
LONDON 62.18
DUBAI 17.39
Beijing
Mexico City Istanbul
Moscow Doha
Dubai
Riyadh
Johannesburg Mumbai
5.64
46.05
41.49
Stockholm
23
20
Zurich
52.69
24.60
12
11
22
40
Seoul
60.58
20.15
20
80
Singapore
56.66
Madrid
2.71
49.46
Hong Kong
New York City
6
18
0.00
Tokyo
5
Dubai
Table 2.1.10: Top innovation infrastructure scores
Score (0-100)
Innovation Infrastructure
11.49 46.77 26.61 26.10 19.98 16.04 14.34 3.94 2.71 8.39 6.48 1.80
10.95 32.30 5.51 9.11 8.69 6.78 6.66 4.97 9.83 4.41 7.87 7.10 0.93 2.02 0.00 1.98 7.36 1.10 0.00 0.00 3.10 0.16
56.75 74.30 53.60 60.15 53.60 35.40 82.80 65.61 58.45 66.24 65.36 69.29 58.33 60.63 18.94 18.94 44.51 43.26 44.19 36.54 31.74 48.36 49.46 39.68 20.92 7.27
Table 2.1.11: Cities ranked by innovation infrastructure score
55.37 46.84 41.41 37.53 33.34 33.33 31.73 31.62 31.33 29.11 28.44 27.74 27.31 25.51 24.53 24.27 24.02 23.80 21.39 18.19 17.81 17.80 17.39 16.02 10.17 3.08
• London ranks 1st for computer software spending and the overall pillar of institutions for R&D • London’s transport system Transport for London (TfL) is committed to syndicating open data to third parties and engaging developers to deliver and innovate using open data platform • Lack of good ICT infrastructure • Low scores for environmental stability & energy performance • Relatively low expenditure on research and development has led Dubai to score among the lowest five cities on the innovation infrastructure pillar
49
Innovation Enabler - Key Insights Skills and Talent
Innovation Enabler - Key Insights Skills and Talent
A key factor in a city being innovative is the people it attracts, retains and creates. A large part of the ability to innovate is having the knowledge and skills required to do so, which is why education is a cornerstone for any innovative city. Skills and Talent is hence measured through education, which focuses on more formative schooling such as literacy, government expenditure per pupil, how long students typically stay in school and how common libraries are. Through these metrics, it can be determined how highly a city values education and the land and money it dedicates to it. Secondly, higher education is quantified in terms of what percentage of people attend college, how well they score, whether they are studying science, technology, engineering or math (STEM), and how highly a city’s schools rank on a global level. This will allow insight into the number of qualified and skilled people that might be able to contribute now or in the future to a city’s innovative endeavours. It also allows a viewpoint into how well-qualified graduates in the city compare to their peers elsewhere on the planet.
emerged as a weak point for Dubai, however, ranking low at #22, which indicates there is significant room for improvement. Moving into specific sub-pillar scores, Moscow leads in terms of Education, largely due to its high literacy rates and abundance of libraries, both of which point to the city’s dedication to education and learning. Meanwhile, Mumbai ranked the lowest, due to poor scores in all indicators. Dubai scored relatively poor in Education, as government expenditure per pupil was comparatively low. While currently Dubai’s number of libraries was among the lowest, Dubai’s “Year of Reading” initiative, alongside The Dubai Digital Library and The Mohammed bin Rashid Library are likely to significantly improve this score. Seoul scored highest for Higher Education, due to it’s top ranking schools and higher education enrollment rates. Lowest in this metric was Johannesburg, which lacked world-ranked universities, but who’s score was also hurt by a lack of data for most other metrics. Dubai scored better in Higher Education, but will hopefully be able to continue to develop globally ranked higher education institutions.
The overall highest ranked city was Hong Kong, which ranked highly for it’s strong literacy rates, top schools and large number of technical graduates. Skills & Talent
For detailed scores for each city, refer to appendix 1
SUB-PILLAR
COUNTRIES ACROSS THE SCORES SPECTRUM
High Moscow (78.11) Zurich (64.01) Singapore (63.12) Seoul (91.55) Hong Kong (87.26) London (65.98)
Education
Higher Education
Low Mumbai (1.71) Kuala Lumpur (27.45) Johannesburg (28,92) Johannesburg (0.00) Mumbai (4.13) Sao Paolo (22.09)
1 2 3 4
Dubai
Seoul
Moscow
Singapore
7
Sydney
8 9
Zurich Berlin
London
10
Stockholm
12
Toronto
14
Tokyo
11 13
Paris
Madrid
15
New York City
17
Beijing
16 18
Shanghai Milan
19
San Francisco
21
Riyadh
23
Istanbul Dubai Doha
24
Kuala Lumpur
26
Sao Paulo
25
38.15
Hong Kong
Copenhagen
6
22
37.84
City
5
20
27
Table 2.1.12: Top skills and talent scores
28
80
Mexico City
Johannesburg Mumbai
Skills and Talent Education
Higher Education
Skills & Talent
50.32
91.55
70.93
55.78 78.11
87.26 49.55
63.12
63.68
61.67
56.52
64.01
50.37
59.08
53.91
48.30
63.13
45.14
65.98
51.34
56.31
50.50
54.49
57.94
47.02
51.10
52.80
45.70
52.61
43.49
52.16
38.35
52.78
38.35
52.78
48.60
39.05
42.07
42.16
39.90
41.70
36.15
42.10
37.84
38.15
46.65
28.41
27.45
44.59
31.13
34.14
29.86
22.09
28.92
0.00
1.71
4.13
Table 2.1.13: Cities ranked by skills & talent score
71.52 63.83 63.40 59.09 57.19 56.50 55.71 55.56 53.82 52.49 52.48 51.95 49.16 47.82 45.57 45.57 43.83 42.12 40.80 39.13 37.99 37.53 36.02 32.64 25.98 14.46 2.92
60 40
Figure 2.1.7: Skills and talent score rankings
50
Hong Kong
Seoul
Moscow
Singapore
Copenhagen
Zurich
Sydney
Berlin
London
Stockholm
Paris
Toronto
Madrid
Tokyo
New York City
Shanghai
Beijing
Milan
San Francisco
Istanbul
Riyadh
Dubai
Doha
Kuala Lumpur
Mexico City
Sao Paulo
0
Johannesburg
20
Mumbai
Score (0-100)
Rank
HONG KONG 71.52
• According to the Hong Kong government, total budgeted government expenditure on education in the 2015-16 financial year is $79.3 billion, representing 18% of its total expenditure • The Government has extended free education in public sector schools from nine years to twelve years since 2008/09
DUBAI 17.39
• Relatively high government expenditure on education per pupil • Lack of libraries and low scores for education institutions and adult literacy rate results in the low Skills & Talent rank
51
Innovation Enabler - Key Insights Innovation Culture
Innovation Enabler - Key Insights Innovation Culture
Culture is a key part of the foundation for developing an innovative environment. Cities that embrace innovative thinking and solutions, will in turn encourage it’s people to think ‘outside the box’. Having access to resources and rewards for innovation alone is seldom enough to lead to innovative thinking, and that is where culture provides the motive. Innovation culture hence measured the lens of the entrepreneurial mind-set, measured through The Global Entrepreneurship & Development Index, which measures attitudes, abilities and aspirations among other things. This measure was selected as it reflects the attractiveness and ease of starting a new business in a city, which can be crucial to encouraging innovation. Secondly, work-culture can largely influence people’s willingness or ability to innovate, as being overworked or overly stressed about job security can lead to lack of employee motivation and their ability to make valuable contributions to their employers. Additional time also allows people to embark on side projects and hobbies, both key sources of innovation. Hence, incentives accounted for vacation days, weekends and dismissal costs.
Stockholm scored highest for overall innovation culture, due to low amounts of bureaucracy in starting a business and highly favourable working conditions, which fosters the freedom to innovate. In terms of sub-pillars, North American cities lead in terms of entrepreneurial culture, with New York City, San Francisco and Toronto scoring highest, with excellent entrepreneurial environments and a relatively quick start-up procedure. Comparatively lowest in this regard was Sao Paulo, however Dubai ranked well for it’s entrepreneurial culture, significantly higher than Chinese cities Beijing and Shanghai. Dubai’s score is largely due to it’s exceptional efficiency in the business-starting process. In terms of incentives, Istanbul leads, with a relatively high cost of dismissal and good work-life balance. With low amounts of annual leave and minimal redundancy costs, San Francisco and New York City scored lowest. Dubai scored in the middle, with healthy vacation and weekend lengths, however the low level of job security appeared to bring this score down, highlighting room for improvement.
For detailed scores for each city, refer to appendix 1
SUB-PILLAR
COUNTRIES ACROSS THE SCORES SPECTRUM
High New York City (98.09) San Francisco (98.09) Toronto (95.53) Sydney (93.80)
Entrepreneurial
Incentives
Istanbul (75.56) Madrid (72.15) Stockholm (70.90)
Low Sao Paolo (0.42) Mumbai (34.03) Beijing (41.48) Shanghai (41.48) San Francisco (22.22) New York City (22.22) Sydney (27.88) Hong Kong (33.67)
Culture Score
Seoul
72.07
75.56
73.81
Moscow
4
Singapore
5
Copenhagen
7
Sydney
9
London
6 8
Zurich Berlin
10
Stockholm
12
Toronto
11 13 14
Paris
Madrid Tokyo
15
New York City
17
Beijing
16
Shanghai Milan
19
San Francisco
21
Riyadh
23 24 25 26 27 28
80
Incentives
3
2
22 51.11
Entrepreneurial
Hong Kong
20
77.01
City
1
18
Dubai
Table 2.1.14: Top innovation culture scores
60
Istanbul Dubai Doha
Kuala Lumpur Mexico City Sao Paulo
Johannesburg Mumbai
80.62 77.86
70.90 69.68
83.94
61.52
73.20
70.77
87.54
55.32
72.18
69.91
86.76
50.00
63.88
72.15
95.53
36.39
81.64
47.66
77.01
51.11
59.25
62.81
60.46
61.31
93.80
27.88
98.09
22.22
98.09
22.22
85.85
34.11
61.86
51.11
50.00
61.04
52.18
56.96
65.21
39.22
67.25
33.67
41.48
59.33
41.48
59.33
52.14
40.88
34.03
57.33
0.42
62.43
Table 2.1.15: Cities ranked by skills & talent score
75.76 73.77 72.73 71.99 71.43 71.04 68.38 68.01 65.96 64.65 64.06 61.03 60.89 60.84 60.16 60.16 59.98 56.49 55.52 54.57 52.22 50.46 50.40 50.40 46.51 45.68 31.42
40 20
Figure 2.1.8: Innovation culture score rankings
52
Stockholm
Istanbul
Berlin
Paris
Seoul
London
Doha
Copenhagen
Madrid
Toronto
Zurich
Dubai
Riyadh
Kuala Lumpur
Sydney
New York City
San Francisco
Singapore
Milan
Moscow
Mexico City
Tokyo
Hong Kong
Shanghai
Beijing
Johannesburg
Mumbai
0
Sao Paulo
Score (0-100)
Rank
Culture
STOCKHOLM 71.52
• SUP46 (StartUP People of Sweden) community was created to encourage and motivate innovation • Modeled after the famous Google campus, they are providing entrepreneurs a place to capitalize on the Swedish ideology of sharing resources and ideas
DUBAI 64.06
• High scores for entrepreneurial culture and for non-monetary incentives for employees • Initiatives such as launch of Dubai Innovation Strategy and Dubai Innovation Week further enhance the innovation culture in the city
53
Summary The previous section detailed the macroeconomic citylevel comparison of Dubai against 27 other global cities. To calculate scores for each city, a number of factors were categorized into Enabler and Performance measures and then quantified. Enablers are defined and described as the drivers and supporting structures of innovation. Enablers were further broken into Pillars, with each focusing on a key enabling element of innovation. Within these Pillars are sub-pillars with individual data indicators below them. In terms of overall Enabler scores, London lead, while Dubai ranked mid-table in 16th place. London scored highly for Innovation Infrastructure, due largely to it’s multiple topgrade schools as well as its Government, with organizations such as the Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) and for Innovation Funding. Political, Economic and Social (PES) Environment measured the stability, robustness, growth rate and conduciveness to innovation of a city’s environment. Dubai ranked 17th in this measure, due to low economic growth and a high ecological footprint. Zurich meanwhile, lead here, with a high standard of living, excellent financial and education systems and attractive opportunities. The Government pillar measured policies and regulations set by the government and their impact on the business environment. Dubai ranked 12th for this pillar, due to high regulatory quality and low taxes/tariffs, however was impacted by low scores in logistics performance. The leading city in this pillar was Singapore, due to low governmental corruption, favorable business policies, regulatory quality and enforcement, alongside a favorable business environment. Innovation Funding measured the availability and ease of access to capital for both the private and public sectors, as a lack of these can serve as impediments to innovation. Dubai ranked 17th for innovation funding, scoring highly for public funding, however lacking in terms of private
54
investments and banking. Home of Wall Street, leading this pillar was New York City, due primarily to it’s strong banking scores. Innovation Infrastructure measured the infrastructure for innovation including R&D labs, information an communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and the environmental performance of the city. At 25th place, this emerged as a weak spot for Dubai, due to low scores for ICT, a lack of R&D institutions and weak environmental stability scores. London lead in this pillar, due to especially strong R&D institutions, ICT and environmental stability. Skills & Talent measured the enablement of developing human capital through primary and higher education, as this is a key indicator of the skill-level of the work force in a city. Dubai scored poorly for this pillar, ranking in 22nd, due to weak scores for primary and higher education, shown through a lack of libraries and world-class educational institutions, as well as sub-par literacy rates. Hong Kong ranked highest in this pillar, with a government that spends 18% of it’s budget on education, allowing it to offer twelve years of free education. Innovation Culture measured the presence of an entrepreneurial and employee-friendly culture in a city, which boosts innovation by encouraging its people to think creatively. Dubai ranks 12th for this pillar, and does so because of a strong entrepreneurial culture, while nonmonetary incentives for employees could still be further improved. Ranking highest in this pillar is Stockholm, with an especially high incentive score, due to the high level of job security and work-life balance. Dubai’s strong points are its government support and innovative culture, which it needs to continue to develop so as to reach the levels of leaders in these areas like Singapore and Stockholm. Dubai needs to continue to grow it’s innovation infrastructure, which is a key factor in why London is ranks high in the innovation index. Similarly, Dubai has to significantly improve its Skills and Talent scores in order to match the high scores of Hong Kong, the leading city in this measure.
