Becoming a Knowledge Economy: the Case of Qatar, UAE, and 17 Benchmark Countries

This paper assesses the performance of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in terms of their achievements towards becoming knowledge-based economies. This is done through a comparison against 17 benchmark countries using a four pillars’ framework comprising (1) information and communication technology, (2) education, (3) innovation, and (4) economy and regime. Results indicate that the UAE ranks slightly better than the median rank of the 19 compared countries while Qatar ranks somewhat below. Results also indicate that both countries lag considerably behind knowledge economy leaders, particularly evidenced in the innovation pillar. Policy recommendations are mainly addressed at further developing the two countries’ research culture as well as improving the incentives to attract top quality researchers and highly talented workers. © 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York.