EDUCATION, INNOVATION & RECESSION

Abdullah Al Suleimany*

We are starting to feel the cold wind of recession not only in Oman and GCC countries but globally as well. Recession is an opportunity to learn new skills and techniques. It is an opportunity that you would get once in a while.
Economic recession makes businesses and manpower, skilled and unskilled alike, redundant. It ushers in a new set of innovative entrepreneurs who make an impact and provide a much-needed fillip. Some call this process ‘Creative destruction’.
During the longest bull ruled days of the world economy, when the boom was at its peak, a possible downturn had not been envisaged by many. Everyone was made to believe that recessions were things of the past. There was an unrealistic profit expectation along with a mad rush for wealth acquisition.
To argue that recessions are a feature of capitalist market systems alone is not correct. If capitalism has a cycle of booms and recessions, socialist systems, as in the former Soviet Union or Eastern Europe, were not too cyclical, but faced gradual long term irreversible recession before they actually collapsed. It is always better to face the ups and downs in life rather than reach a level of glory and then fall irretrievably. We seem to have learnt this lesson in Oman where we gradually built our infrastructure to cover a wide geographical area benefiting the working class In particular.
Nevertheless, it is important to have a strong foundation in human resource development. We need to focus and pay more attention in Oman especially for developing the secondary school leavers. For it is from this source that innovators & entrepreneurs have to emerge to make a difference during future downturns.
A powerful nation is successful in creating a strong talent pool of young technicians, technocrats, managers, engineers, graduates, post graduates and doctorates. It is from this talent pool that people, who would create new products, invent new technologies and identify new market opportunities.
The European Innovation Score Board (EIS), an initiative of Directorate for Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission, measures the innovation climate in European states. The EIS has a number of parameters based on which it ranks the member states. One of the indicators of EIS is ‘Enablers’ – those who make innovation possible, such as Secondary and Higher Secondary graduates; polytechnic and engineering diploma holders; post graduates; doctorates etc – who make innovation happen in the economy as a whole. Factors such as broadband internet penetration, entrepreneurship, regulatory barriers, Intellectual property right awareness etc also figure in the EIS index. I would argue that it is a proficient human resource pool that is most crucial. This underscores the importance of state infrastructure in creating an army of skilled and educated youths, which enhance economic opportunities.
I make this point to project the need for nurturing human resources by way of education and continuous learning in Oman.
At this time of recession we feel the importance of education more. The Schumpeterian concept of ‘creation at the time of destruction that occurs during an economic downturn’ could materialise when enablers are there to draw upon from a proficient manpower pool. A friendly regulatory mechanism in Oman also can play a key role in the process of recovery.
While in recession, an economy is looking for new business leaders who are capable of thinking differently, creating wealth and sustaining it. Such business leaders look at building their enterprise in a comprehensive manner, for the long term. This is nothing but responsible entrepreneurship that comes out of the careful nurturing of a person and an ethical upbringing, in addition to learning social and economic values as a whole, rather than understanding business as a vocation for money making alone.
Continuous education and exposure to new ideas would help us to gain a wisdom that reduces the impact of any mistakes that we may commit. For instance, education may enable us to look into a number of aspects before going in for a decision such as ‘building a set of houses and trading them’. Our exposure to business and economic history might help us consider factors such as a need for houses at all; long term pay-ability of the end customers and the job sustainability of those who might stay there; a prognosis study etc.
Educational opportunities, training and skill development infrastructure, easy availability of information supply channels such as broadband internet and a friendly regulatory mechanism in Oman would promote efficiency; reduce costs; enhance income and above all induce national development as they promote innovation. This would therefore result in reduced recessionary cycles in the future.
*Abdullah Al Suleimany, B.Sc, (Hons) University of London; MBA, University of Strathclyde. He is the CEO, East Horizon LLC.
the author can be reached at <abdullah_2580@hotmail.com>
http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZAWYA20090316041056/Oman:%20Education,%20innovation%20and%20recession/