Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry released the Dubai Innovation Index Report today. The Report highlights the results of the Dubai Innovation Index (DII) which was launched by Dubai Chamber in collaboration with PwC in 2015, to support UAE’s vision for innovation and to promote Dubai’s quest towards being the smartest city in the world by 2021. The Index has been designed to compare Dubai with 28 global cities on macroeconomic measures of innovation and to analyze innovation performance of Dubai’s private sector, including at the firm level. Through the Index, the Chamber wants to create awareness and increase the participation of the private sector in the total innovation efforts of the city of Dubai, and provide a benchmark to measure innovation. In the Report, London has emerged as the most innovative city, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore respectively. Dubai ranks 16th across 28 global cities, ahead of cities such as Madrid, Milan, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Shanghai and Beijing.

1. “Building innovation capability for the future”
Dubai Innovation
Index

2. H.E. Hamad Buamim
President & CEO, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Innovation is critical for the sustenance and development of an economy in a dynamic
global environment. The Dubai government has been cognizant of this with a vision to
become the world’s most innovative city in the coming years. However, we at Dubai
Chamber realised that we need a benchmark to compare the progress made not just at
a city level but also at the private sector level and this is how this first-of-its-kind index –
Dubai Innovation Index came into existence.
This Index which cover 28 countries, helps to draw a comparison not only across global
cities, but also within the private sector in Dubai, across industries and varying sizes of
companies.
The Index is an integral pillar of our innovation strategy and a qualitative and quantitative
indicator of the performance of the economy. With %90 of Dubai’s private sector made
up of SMEs, for who being innovative is imperative, this Index will be a compass not only
for them but also for the government in order to understand which areas we excel in and
what is we need to build on.
The Chamber studied global indicators to adopt what is best suited to Dubai’s economy,
creating the first index in one of the world’s emerging economies. With a focus on eight
key sector and 61 indicators, the Index, we believe will definitely stimulate the private
sector and inspire them to participate in Dubai’s innovation initiatives to remain ahead of
the rest.
Dr. Anil Khurana
PwC Partner, Strategy & Innovation
PwC is proud to be part of the development of the Dubai Innovation Index
with Dubai Chamber. This is a unique and comprehensive index that evaluates
and compares macroeconomic data to private sector views of a city. The
macroeconomic index compares Dubai against the leading innovative cities
in the world and highlights that Dubai has made significant progress and
investments in recent years towards the post-oil knowledge economy. Dubai,
however, needs to further enhance its R&D and STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics) emphasis and investments to be even more
competitive.
Our generation is faced with a range of challenges and opportunities - space
travel, renewable energy, climate change, food security, advanced materials, digital technologies and others.
Dubai›s vision and innovation strategy position it well to be a leading light in this global agenda.
Private sector businessmen views highlight that there is a great challenge to find and retain talent that facilitates
innovation. The private sector also views creating and fostering an innovative culture in their organizations as a
crucial step towards innovation.
Prof. David Gann, CBE
Vice President, Innovation & Development
Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Innovation lies at the heart of economic growth, providing the means to
improve the quality of life for everyone. These activities are increasingly
concentrated in cities. It is therefore important to understand how city
innovation capabilities are developed and sustained.
The public sector, including the city authority, has a central role in creating
the conditions for innovation to thrive. The private sector, working in
partnership with universities and research organisations is the engine-room
of entrepreneurial endeavour, seeking opportunity, embracing risk and
delivering outcomes that can surprise and delight.
Dubai Chamber is very well positioned to take a lead role to create closer collaboration between private and
public sectors and create a better platform for innovation. By launching Dubai Innovation Index in partnership with
PwC the chamber has taken an important step in showing how the city can develop and expand its innovation
capabilities. This comprehensive index sets a benchmark in two ways. First, it provides a baseline from which
Dubai can measure progress against its own requirements over time. Second, it provides a comparison with
other major international cities indicating areas of relative strength and weakness from which the city and its
businesses can learn, acting as focal points for future development.
1 2

3. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary 5
Overview of the Dubai
Innovation Index Design 7
Innovation Rankings 9
Global Insights 11
Private Sector Perspective 13
Industry Insights 23
A Holistic View of Innovation
“Dubai Innovation Index” 25
Analysis and Comparison 27
Recommendations 29
Appendix 31
Dubai Innovation
Index
3 4

4. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Innovation is the key to growth
and development in a dynamic
global environment. Dubai has
been cognizant of this with a
vision to become the world’s most
innovative city in the years to come.
To measure Dubai’s progress
in innovation set a benchmark,
Dubai Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (DCCI) has partnered
with PwC to develop a unique and
comprehensive innovation index.
The index has been designed to
compare Dubai with 28 global cities
on macroeconomic measures
of innovation and to analyse
innovation performance of Dubai’s
private sector. This is the 1st time
ever a study has evaluated and
compared macroeconomic data at
a firm level.
The macroeconomic view of the
index studies the ecosystem
elements at the city level in two
parts, the first part measures
innovation performance and
second part looks at factors that
enable innovation,thus giving us
an overall view of a firm’s impact
on innovation, its capability to
innovate, and its innovation
activities.
The index helps to draw a
comparison not only across global
cities, but also within the private
sector in Dubai, across industries
and varying sizes of companies. In
future years, we hope to expand
the private sector study to the
other 27 global cities.
In this study, London has emerged
as the most innovative city,
followed by Hong Kong and
Singapore respectively. Dubai
ranks 16th across 28 global cities.
Dubai has scored well on several
enablers, namely “Government
support” and “building the culture
of innovation”, and scored average
on “funding” and “political,
economic and social environment”
elements. However, lower scores
for “infrastructure for innovation”
and “skills & talent” suggest these
areas require improvement.
“Dubai ranks 16th
across 28 global cities
on the innovation
index”
“87% of Dubai’s private
sector firms have
recognized the
importance of creating
and fostering the
culture of innovation”
BuSInESSMEn vIEW
MACROECONOMIC DATA
Within the areas of innovation
performance, Dubai ranks relatively
well on tangible outputs (12th).
Tangible outputs measure “new
products & services”, “creative
output”, “technology readiness”,
and “revenue generation” in a
city. However Dubai scores low
(16th) in intangible outputs, which
measure “intellectual property”,
“creation of culture of innovation”
and the “extent of collaboration for
innovation”.
To obtain private sector insights, an
online survey was conducted and
business leaders were interviewed
for qualitative inputs. We received
600 useable responses to the
survey. The results indicate that
retention of talent and availability
of funds are the key challenges
to build innovation capabilities.
Most of the respondents have also
identified the difficulty in taking
innovative ideas to the market
quickly, as an obstacle.
The analysis of both
macroeconomic and private sector
data indicates that innovation in
Dubai is primarily driven by the
government. Furthermore, while
the Dubai government is building
and investing for a long-term and
sustainable innovative economy,
the private sector has been
unsurprisingly focusing on the
short term, i.e. immediate outputs.
Thus, it is imperative for the private
sector to collaborate and work
closely with the government to
benefit from the government’s
investments and build on the
Emirate’s vision.
The private sector is crucial to
promoting innovation in Dubai, and
the Chamber can play a pivotal
role in facilitating the collaboration
between public and private sector
and supporting the private sector
through initiatives related to
innovation.
“Both macroeconomic
and private sector views
have concluded that
“skills and talent”,
“infrastructure for
innovation” and
“intellectual capital”
are areas of
improvement for Dubai”
5 6

5. Dubai Innovation Index is designed to be unique and comprehensive
in measuring innovation at city and private sector levels…
“What is Dubai’s position on the
global innovation map?”
• Measuring the current state of
innovation in Dubai
• Defining a scorecard highlighting
Dubai’s innovation performance
on a global scale
1. Baseline
“What are the key challenges &
opportunities to innovation faces
by firms?”
• Identifying key challenges and
opportunities - for policy makers,
DCCI, companies, government
departments and others
2. Challenges & Opportunities
“How can businesses and
goverment implement practices
to further foster innovation?”
• Recommendations for public
policy changes that can help
private sector to innovate
• Actions for organisations to
enhance innovation performance
3. Actions
Progress tracking and improvement over the years
ECOSYSTEM
ECOSYSTEM
DUBAI
INNOVATION
INDEX
TOP-DOWN
(Macro-economic)
BOTTOM-UP
(Private sector
view)
• Factual macroeconomic
data compared across
selected global cities
• Comparing enablers
and output performance
of innovation across
28 selected global cities
• Evaluating innovation
capability, activity and
impacts of innovation
across industries and
varying firm sizes
• Supported by insights
from selected Dubai
industry leaders
While most innovation studies gather and analyze either macro data or survey data, the Dubai
Innovation Index evaluates and compares both macroeconomic data across the 28 selected global
cities and private sector data (collected through surveys at firm level) across industries.
The categories of data points for both macroeconomic and private sector level studies have been
selected in such a manner as to to ensure that they are comparable to each other.
“The index is expected to provide insights into the contribution
of private sector to the overall Dubai innovation performance.
It will also allow to identify gaps and areas of improvement”
The index aims to seek answers to three main questions:
1. What is Dubai’s position on the global innovation map?
2. What are the key challenges and opportunities to innovation faced by private sector firms?
3. How can businesses and government implement practices to further foster innovation?
This study will be conducted annually in the coming years to track the progress and identify
opportunities for improvement towards a more innovative Dubai.
The macroeconomic view of the index studies ecosystem elements at the city level in two
parts, first part looks at factors that enable innovation and second part measures the innovation
performance. Similar to the elements of macroeconomic study, the private sector view is a
measurement of firms’ capability to innovate, their activities and their overall impact on innovation.
1 Refer to appendix for detailed index design framework and explanation of elements
7 8

6. Dubai ranks 16th out of 28 peer global cities in innovation
The Innovation Score is calculated as an average of indicators that measure
enablers of innovation (categorised under 6 areas) as inputs and indicators
that measure performance of innovation (categorised under 2 areas) as
outputs.
Enablers of innovation as inputs are primarily about what is being done today
as an investment for the future, thereby building a foundation for innovation
activities and initiatives to flourish.
Performance of innovation is about outputs of innovation seen today,
measuring the current impact of innovation.
Innovation Ratio is a measurement of the outputs of innovation to the inputs,
i.e., investments made in innovation. It is calculated as a ratio of performance
score average to enabler score average.
PES Environment
Measures political
stability, economic
environment an overall
appeal of the city
Government
Measures policies
and regulations
set by the government
that impact the business
environment
Funding
Measure the
extent and prevalence
of funding, both private
and public which helps
develop new businesses
Culture
Measures the
presence of an
entrepreneurial and
open, employee friendly
culture in the city which
boosts innovation
Infrastructure
Measures the
infrastructure for
innovation including R&D
labs, ICT infrastructure
and the environmental
performance of the city
Skills & Talent
Measures the
enablement of skills &
talent through primary
and higher education
and institutions of
education
INNOVATION ENABLERS
INNOVATION PERFORMANCE
Tangible Outcomes
Measures tangible results of
innovation including new products &
services, creative outputs, technology
outputs and revenue generation in
the city
Intangible Outcomes
Measures outputs in terms of
intellectual property, creation
of culture and the extent of
collaboration for innovation
Innovation
Score Rank
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
City
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
Innovation
Score
58.16
53.79
52.16
51.04
50.72
49.66
45.65
44.96
44.76
44.71
43.78
41.63
41.50
40.45
39.73
39.14
38.74
37.65
33.97
33.84
33.66
33.37
32.65
30.19
27.14
25.55
24.38
20.06
Enabler
Score
65.01
64.17
64.09
56.60
57.34
54.74
57.31
55.76
56.90
53.93
55.14
55.40
52.96
54.02
46.36
46.48
37.45
36.75
46.09
42.15
47.03
39.55
39.53
39.39
39.85
27.74
31.46
23.13
Performance
Score
51.31
43.42
40.23
45.47
44.11
44.58
33.98
34.17
32.62
35.48
32.41
27.85
30.03
26.88
33.09
31.80
40.03
38.56
21.85
25.53
20.30
27.20
25.78
20.98
14.42
23.37
17.29
16.98
Innovation
Rank
6
12
15
5
7
4
18
16
20
13
19
24
21
25
9
11
1
2
26
17
27
10
14
23
28
3
22
8
Innovation
Ratio
0.79
0.68
0.63
0.80
0.77
0.81
0.59
0.61
0.57
0.66
0.59
0.50
0.57
0.50
0.71
0.68
1.07
1.05
0.47
0.61
0.43
0.69
0.65
0.53
0.36
0.84
0.55
0.73
Innovation Score =
Enablers Average + Performance Average/2
Innovation Ratio =
Enablers Average /Performance Average
“Dubai’s Enablers score is higher than Performance
score indicating that Dubai is investing in the innovation
ecosystem which is expected to provide a sound base for
the future. However, Dubai’s rank for the Innovation Ratio
is 11th suggesting that Dubai’s doing well in innovation
outputs to its investments.”
9 10

7. The scores indicate that Dubai ranks higher for tangible output
measures such as “new products & services”, and below average
for intangible output measures such as “development of
intellectual property” and “research & development”
What characterizes the leading (# 1) cities in each
element of Innovation Performance (Outputs)
• Top-notch telecommunications infrastructure of the city
• The Cyberport, a hi-tech multimedia hub costing
HK$ 13 billion that provides support to the IT industry
across training, organizing business matching events
and offering financial assistance to nurture companies
and entrepreneurs
HONG
KONG
Tangible
Outputs
53.73
• Outstanding research quality on a par with the best
science cities globally
• First class training and education base and a long
standing reputation as a global cultural capital
• Leading the table in terms of knowledge-intensive jobs
and collaboration for scientific publications as well as
for joint ventures and strategic alliances
LONDON
Tangible
Outputs
58.21
Where Dubai stands in comparison to global leaders
• Lack of creative outputs and low growth & revenue
generation over the past year
• Low market capitalization and stocks traded
• High technology readiness but low export of creative
goods and low global entertainment & media output,
resulting in low creative output scores
• High % growth in manufacturing and services value
added over the past year
Tangible
Outputs
35.26
#12
• Bottom five rank for both patents and trademarks
registered (24# and 26# respectively)
• Low scores for collaboration with institutes and
economies for scientific work
• High labour force participation
• High no. of JV-strategic alliances
Intangible
Outputs
35.26
#16
Dubai…“Doing more with less”
Dubai has scored well in the areas of “Government support” and “building a culture for
innovation”, and “funding” and “political, economic and social environment” elements scores
are average. However, lower scores of “infrastructure for innovation” and “skills & talent”
suggest that these are areas of improvement. Lack of sophisticated institutions for education,
research and development and training have emerged as area of concern.
However, Dubai ranks 11th
in innovation ratio which is the measure of outputs of innovation
compared to the investments in enablers of innovation. This indicates that Dubai is “doing
more with less” and performing well in comparison to many other leading innovative cities
such as Stockholm, Paris, Singapore and Zurich.
LONDON
Intangible Outputs
58.21
HONG KONG
Tangible Outputs
53.73
11 12

8. The scores indicate that Dubai ranks above average for
“government support” and “culture of innovation”, and
below average for “skills & talent” and “infrastructure for
innovation”
LONDON
Infrastructure
62.18
HONG KONG
Skills & Talent
71.52
SINGAPORE
Government
94.88
STOCKHOLM
Culture
75.76
NEW YORK CITY
Funding
65.99
ZURICH
PES Environment
75.70
• Sound political environment
• But low economic growth indicated by low GDP per capita
change
• Low Happy Planet Index score due to a high ecological
footprint
PES
Environment
57.99
#17
• 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
infrastructure pillar
Infrastructure
62.18
#25
• 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
Government
69.70
#12
• 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
Skills & Talent
37.99
#22
• Ease of getting credit and provision of domestic credit to
private sector are low scoring indicators
• Low inward FDI flow and relatively low venture capital
deals also contribute to low funding scores
Funding
31.74
#17
• 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
Culture
64.06
#12
Where Dubai stands in comparison
to global leaders
• 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 premier services
backed by a strong service culture
ZURICH
PES
Environment
75.70
• London ranks 1st for computer software spending and the
overall pillar of institutions for R&D
• TfL is committed to syndicating open data to third parties and
engaging developers to deliver and innovate using open data
platform
LONDON
Infrastructure
62.18
• Corruption-free government, skilled workforce, and advanced
& efficient infrastructure have attracted investments from
more than 3000 MNCs from around the world as reported in
Singapore Industrial and Business Directory Volume 1
• Improved business environment through solutions such as
TradeNet® which serves as a neutral and secure trade
platform to facilitate connectivity among the trading
community and TradeFIRST which is a one-stop assessment
framework that makes trade easy, fair and secure
SINGAPORE
Government
94.88
• 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
NEW YORK
CITY
Funding
65.99
• 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
STOCKHOLM
Culture
75.75
What characterizes the leading (# 1) cities in
each element of Innovation Enablers (inputs)
• According to the Hong Kong government, total budgeted
government expenditure on education in the 16-2015 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 09/2008
HONG KONG
Skills & Talent
71.52
13 14

9. To obtain views of private sector businessmen, a survey was
conducted that received 580 useable responses through online
survey and phone interview modes
Responses by Number of Employees
1-20
EMPLOYEES
40%
21-100
EMPLOYEES
23%
101-250
EMPLOYEES
11%
250-1000
EMPLOYEES
11%
1000+
EMPLOYEES
15%
Responses by Firm Size
<10 MILLION
AED
51%
10-100
MILLION
24%
100 MILLION -
1 BILLION AED
14% 14%
>1 BILLION AED
580
Useable Respondents Mode of Outreach
Online
PHONE
Survey Audience
DUBAI PRIVATE
COMPANIES
Responses by Industries
12% Others
12% Real Estate
& Construction
10% Financial, Insurance
& Legal Services
10% Energy
& Utilities
9% F&B, Hospitality,
Leisure & Entertainment
8% Agriculture, Fishing
& Forestry
8% Education
7% Manufacturing
7% Wholesale & Retail
6% ICT
5% Transport & Logistics
4% Healthcare2% Media & Marketing
15 16

10. The Dubai private sector innovation survey provides insight into
key themes that are supported by the views of selected Dubai
industry leaders
“Businesses today need to realize innovation is a key aspect to their
development. An innovation strategy has to be a part-and-parcel of their
DNA. Your success is a function of having a vision before the others.”
– H.E. Faisal bin Juma Belhoul
STRATEGY
“An innovation
strategy is essential
to enhance innovation
capability”
75% 73%
“Innovation is a
competitive necessity
and it is very important
to think of innovation now”
78%
“Innovation will
become a
competitive necessity
in 5 years’ time”
COLLABORATION
73%oPen
innovation
plan to collaborate with
customers over the next 3
years to deliver innovative
products & services
51%StRateGiC
CoLLaBoRation
plan to collaborate with
external partners over the next
3 years to deliver innovative
products & services
46%aCaDeMiC
inStitutionS
plan to collaborate with
academic institutions over
the next 3 years to deliver
innovative products
45%
of respondents believe
finding the right partners
to collaborate with is
challenging
BUT...
“Collaboration is fundamental and we need to have
an open mind towards collaboration; we need to
work with all stakeholders and know how to
encourage them to innovate.”
– H.E. Majid Saif Al Ghurair
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
Although 70%
respondents believe
general government
assistance is boosting
innovation output
58%
58% do not directly
benefit from government
funding to support
innovation
“Public-private partnership must be created and leveraged to make
innovation happen. Platforms to help public-private partnership grow
is crucial.
– Sanjeev Chadha,
CEO PepsiCo Asia, Middle East & Africa
17 18

11. Survey results of Dubai’s private sector indicate that “implementation
of ideas” and “retention of talent” are key challenges to build
innovation capabilities and lead to a low score for “intellectual capital”
80
70
60
50
40
30
43.79
70.22
59.35
31.3
77.22
Average: 58.62
Above Average Scores
Below Average Scores
New Products
& Services
Growth & Revenue
Generation
Technology
Readiness
Intellectual Capital Creation of Culture Collaboration
69.82
*Score limits to define high, mid and low categories are based on the 100th
, 2/3rd
and 1/3rd
percentile limits.
Scores across elements of ImpactScores across elements of Enablers
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
65.15
48.29
60.42
51.11
44.83
62.3
67.17
46.68
Average: 55.74
Above Average
Below Average
Strategy,
Leadership
& Culture
Management
of Innovation
Organisation
Enablers
Collaboration Skills
& Talent
Accessing
New Ideas
Selecting &
Developing
New Ideas
Implementing
News Ideas
Output score across Innovation Elements measured for Dubai’s Private Sector (0-100)
ELEMENT
New Products & Services
Growth & Revenue Generation
Technology Readiness
Intellectual Capital
Creation of Culture
Collaboration
SCORE
59.35
43.79
70.22
31.30
77.22
69.82
Impact
(Outputs)
58.62
Intangible
Output
59.45
Tangible
Output
57.79
Input score across Innovation Elements measured for Dubai’s Private Sector (0-100)
ELEMENT
Strategy, Leadership & Culture
Management of Innovation
Organisation Enablers
Collaboration
Skills & Talent
Accessing New Ideas
Selecting & Developing New Ideas
Implementing New Ideas
SCORE
51.11
65.15
48.29
60.42
44.83
62.30
67.17
46.68
Enabler
(Inputs)
56.34
Activity
58.72
Capability
53.96
19 20

12. Dubai’s business leaders have recognized the importance of
creating and fostering a culture of innovation and identified
that it’s difficult to take innovative ideas to the market quickly
INTANGIBLE IMPACT
Only 5% have an IP assigned to the firm or an IP in process
BELOW AVERAGE
Score = 31.30Intellectual
Capital
87% feel it is crucial to create and foster an innovative
culture through recognition and rewarding of talent,
senior executive participation in innovation, seeking
best practices and fostering a failure and risk tolerant
environment
ABOVE AVERAGE
Score = 77.22Creation of
Culture
53% havent had any significant innovation in the area of
data and knowledge management in the last 3-5 years
BELOW AVERAGE
Score = 31.30Intellectual
Capital
ACTIVITIES IN INNOVATION
62% say taking innovative ideas
to the market quickly is challenging
BELOW AVERAGE
Score = 46.68Implementing
New Ideas
TANGIBLE IMPACT
Only 13% believe that over a third of their company’s
annual revenue was derived from new products and
services launched in the last 3 years
BELOW AVERAGE
Score = 43.79Growth & Revenue
Generation
19% believe 50% or more of their total growth in revenue
over the next 5 years will be derived from innovation
BELOW AVERAGE
Score = 43.79Growth & Revenue
Generation
66% do not gain support from enablers
such as funding
BELOW AVERAGE
Score = 48.29
Organisation
Enablers
INNOVATION CAPABILITY
53% respondents think it is challenging to find and
retain talent that facilitates innovation in Dubai
BELOW AVERAGE
Score = 44.83
Skills &
Talent
21 22

13. The private sector innovation survey shows the Healthcare
Industry to have the highest scores whereas Financial, Insurance
and Legal services Industry scores lowest
Based on evaluation of scores from
the private sector innovation survey,
the healthcare industry scores
highest for innovation amongst
private sector industries, followed
closely by Media & Marketing. ICT,
Manufacturing, Education, Training &
Research and Transport & Logistics
score average in relation to other
industries, whereas Construction
& Real Estate, Financial, Insurance
& Legal Services and Agriculture,
Fishing & Forestry industries
produced the lowest scores.
INNOVATIONSCORE
Financial, Insurance
& Legal Services
54.54
Other Services
55.32
Agriculture, Fishing
& Forestry
55.01
Construction
& Real Estate
56.61
Transportation & Logistics
57.33
Education, Training
& Research
57.51
Manufacturing
58.43
Healthcare
60.25
F&B, Hospitality,
Leisure & Entertainment
58.44
Wholesale
& Retail
59.08
Media &
Marketing
60.06
ICT
59.29
Energy
& Utilities
57.12
These scores are direct average scores obtained from survey results, further detailed analysis will highlight correlation
across innovation ecosystem elements and highlight key areas of strength in innovation for the industries above.
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14. Dubai Innovation Index
Linking Micro-Macro scores
Note: Macroeconomic and Micro level (Dubai Private Sector) scores are measured using different
methods, therefore scales of numbers should not be compared directly. Macroeconomic scores
are based on 28 cities data collected from well established and reliable sources.
Macroeconomic View of Dubai
Innovation Score: 39.14/100
MACROECONOMIC INNOVATION RATIO: 0.68
Enabler score
46.48/100
PERFORMANCE score
46.48/100
Private Sector View of Dubai (Micro Level)
Innovation Score: 57.10/100
Enabler score
56.34/100
CAPABILITY score
53.96/100
ACTIVITY score
56.34/100
TANGIBLE IMPACT
57.79/100
INTANGIBLE IMPACT
59.45/100
IMPACT score
58.62/100
PRIVATE SECTOR INNOVATION RATIO: 1.04
Micro Level scores are calculated using data from an online survey where questions are on a 1-5 scale
normalised to 0-100 scale. However, a comparison of these scores has provided insights into the
relationships between Dubai’s investments and ability to innovate, and innovation in private sector.
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15. Evaluation and comparison of macroeconomic data and
private sector view of Dubai provides insights that support
recommendations for the future
Dubai has a sound base for Innovation, although
Innovation is largely driven by the Government in Dubai
Government is building and investing for the future in
innovation but the private sector is focusing on the short term,
i.e. immediate outputs.
Government is enabling and driving innovation
to a greater extent than the private sector
Lower enabler (input) score compared to performance score
(output) at private sector level suggests focus on short term
outputs
Dubai has challenges to utilise the strong foundation
and further boost innovation performance
Retention of talent for innovation recognized as a challenge by
the private sector
There is a lack of awareness of the importance of innovation
across the private sector
Dubai ranks very low for knowledge and R&D institutions
resonating with poor scores for implementation of ideas by
private sector
Funding and innovation policies stand out as areas
of improvement to further enable innovation
Low intellectual capital and skills & talent scores at both
macroeconomic and private sector level
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16. Dubai government, the private sector and Dubai Chamber should
collectively lead the initiatives to progress Dubai’s innovation
Dubai Government
1. Collaborate: Encourage public sector collaboration with the private
sector to create tangible and intangible innovation outputs
2. Policy: Develop clear policies for sound innovation governance such as
intellectual property management
3. Investment: Government needs to invest in R&D institutions, education
and skills development for innovation. Incentivise private sector for
investments in skills development, retention of talent and R&D
PRIVATE SECTOR
1. Engage: Recognize the challenge with retention of talent and actively
engage with the right talent to cultivate innovation
2. Investment: Make investments in development of skills and R&D
activities to develop a sound foundation for the future and creation of
intellectual property
3. Collaboration: Actively seek collaboration with public sector and other
industry peers for innovation
Dubai CHAMBER
1. Policy Advocacy: Work closely with government organisations and
private sector firms to develop policies to support and enable innovation
2. Diagnostic Tools: Develop and offer the private sector diagnostic tools
for them to regularly evaluate their position in terms of innovation and
actively help them improve
3. Initiatives: Launch and run innovation initiates such as an innovation
institute and workshops/seminars hosted by world class experts with
the goal of reducing hindrances to innovation in Dubai’s private sector.
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17. Appendix: How the study and index were designed
The Index Definition and Scores – What Makes the Index?
Macroeconomic view: The macroeconomic view of the index studies ecosystem elements at the city level in two
parts, first those that enable innovation and second those that measure innovation performance. This study is based on
city level data from a range of widely used sources. Data for each indicator was collected from the same source for the
same year and from credible sources. Only hard/factual data has been used in the study of macroeconomic indicators,
whereas opinion survey data has been eliminated.
Performance: Performance measures the outputs of innovation across the city. Both tangible and intangible innovation
outputs are considered and measured. Intangible performance measures refer to the development of talent, intellectual
property and collaborative partnerships for innovation, whereas tangible performance measures include development of
new products and services, and economic growth.
Enablers: The term enablers of innovation refers to all elements of the innovation ecosystem that help create the ideal
environment for innovation. Enablers of innovation include macroeconomic factors such as Political, Economic and Social
Environment, Government, Funding, Infrastructure, Skills & Talent and Culture. Measures of enablers are forward looking
and are expected to have a long-term impact. A higher enablers score implies investments are being made by the city to
build a sound foundation to support innovation activities and initiatives in the future.
Dubai Innovation Index: This score is a top-down macroeconomic measure of innovation of a city based on city level
data from a range of widely used sources. 28 global cities have been selected for this study. The score takes into account
both enablers (as the input) and performance (as the output) as equal contributors towards innovation.
Macroeconomic Innovation Output Ratio: The Innovation Output Ratio is defined as the ratio of performance
score to enabler scores for a city. This measure indicates the cities abilities to translate its investments in creating
ecosystem for innovation to successful outcome of innovation.
Private Sector view: The private sector view is a measurement of firms’ capability to innovate, its activities and
overall impact of innovation. This study is conducted through an online survey and interviews with Dubai’s business
leaders for qualitative inputs. This measures innovation across the whole private sector as well as for key industries and
varying firm sizes.
Impact: Impact measures the outputs of innovation across private sector firms in Dubai. Both tangible and intangible
innovation outputs are considered and measured. Intangible performance measures refer to the development of talent,
intellectual property and collaborative partnerships for innovation, whereas tangible performance measures include
development of new products and services, and economic growth.
Capability: Capability measures a firm’s ability to innovate using elements that can sustainably influence innovation
activity, i.e., firm’s strategy, leadership and culture, management of innovation, organisation enablers, collaborations,
skills and talent.
Activity: Activity measures a firm’s activities across the innovation lifecycle from accessing, developing and implementing
ideas. Activity of innovation is distinctively measured at private sector level since real innovation activity elements can
practically be measured at firm level only.
Note: The capability and activity measures at private sector level collectively are equivalent to enablers of innovation that can be evaluated
and compared with enablers at macroeconomic level.
Private Sector Innovation Score: This score is a bottom-up measure of innovation at private sector level The
score takes into account capability and activity (as the input) and impact (as the output) as equal contributors towards
innovation.
Private Sector Innovation Output Ratio: Defined as the ratio of impact score to the average of capability and
activity scores. This measure indicates the private sector’s ability to translate its investments and activities in innovation
to successful outcomes.
Dubai Innovation
Index
Innovation Output
Ratio
Enablers
Macroeconomicview
Calculated as an average of enablers for innovation
and performance of innovation for 28 selected global cities
Calculated as ratio of performance to enablers.
It’s a measurement of innovation efficiency.
performance
private Sector
Innocation Score
private Sector
Output Ratio
Capability
Impact
Activity
PRIVATESECTORVIEW
Calculated as evrage of sub-indices indentified
under capability, activity and impact
Calculated as a ration of impact to the
average of capability and activity scores.
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