The Reins of Real Development

Anyone who follows most of the recommendations of international organizations concerned with development issues will see that they call for the need to correct some aspects of structural imbalance in some economies by reducing expenditures and having their countries develop comprehensive short- and long-term economic plans. 

The plans aim to direct their economies toward activities that help diversify and vary their sources of national income and accelerate sustainable development efforts. 

They also call for increased attention to knowledge production by creating appropriate legislative and economic environments that create the appropriate conditions for this important element, which can provide another source of income. 

Many of these recommendations also focus on the need to invest in the human factor, without which the interests of people and generations are lost. 

Countries like Japan and South Korea, which do not have any natural resources, invested in their human capital after the end of World War II and became advanced nations, where their scientific research has become advanced and has nourished them into proverbial nations. 

Today, it is everyone's responsibility in the Arab world to invest in human capital and make bold decisions to achieve compatibility between scientific, professional, and technical training with the requirements of the modern economy, encourage scientific research and innovation, and engage in the knowledge and communication economy and society.

Institutionalizing scientific research and providing it with an institutional climate and sufficient financial resources is what has made industrialized countries reach the level of development and progress they have reached in various fields. When there is a deficiency or negative change, we see how they lose significant points on the scale of developed nations. 

France, for example, invests only 2.2 percent of its GDP in research and development, which is lower than in some countries. 

Although this figure is considered a large investment, it is lower than some countries that set higher budgets for scientific research, such as Israel which invests 5.5 percent, and South Korea, which invests 4.9 percent of its GDP; This is lower than those that invest more than 3 percent of their GDP in scientific research and university training, such as the United States, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, Austria, and Germany.

This is lower than the countries that invest more than 3 percent of their GDP in scientific research and university education, such as the United States, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, Austria, and Germany. 

According to leading experts, France has lagged in recent years in terms of industry and development. Some might say it's a matter of resources and financial crises, but I say it's a matter of will. 

Belgium, for example, is a small country that, more than a decade and a half ago, invested only 2 percent of its GDP in scientific research. Today, it invests 3.4 percent of its GDP in this field. This placed France in 17th place globally, after previously ranking first. 

Furthermore, it used to rank eighth globally in the production of peer-reviewed scientific articles, and now it ranks 13th globally.

Another observation I would like to make in this analysis is that many ministers, economic officials, and politicians in Western countries lack the basics of advanced scientific research, which is reflected in their public policies. 

I have researched extensively to explain France's partial delay in industrialization, and found that the ruling elite is far removed from the world of scientific research.

In the top schools from which this ruling elite graduated, the collegians do not go on to complete their doctoral dissertations. Thirty percent of engineers at the faculties of technical sciences, 20 percent of engineers at the School of Mines, and less than 10 percent of graduates at the Higher Schools of Business and Political Science Institutes do not complete their doctoral research.

I still remember that when I was pursuing my studies at the Institute of Political Science in Toulouse, France, we were only four students out of a group of 30 who discussed their doctorates. 

The trilogy of university, skilled scientific research, and industry is what builds advanced nations, strengthens their industries, and contributes to the present and future. 

Japan is a country with a very limited area, yet it represents the world's second-largest economy.

There is not a house worldwide without a machine, computer, or phone made in this country; Japan is a giant factory built on the trifecta of university, skilled scientific research, and industry, as well as on insightful public policies in the field of advanced industries and realistic investments. 

It imports all raw materials to produce manufactured goods to export to all countries of the world.

Take a European country, Switzerland, which, despite not growing cocoa, produces and exports the best chocolate in the world. 

Furthermore, regardless of its geography and limited agricultural area, it produces the most important dairy products in the world.