Reference no: EM132580090 , Length: 2000 Words

033200 Fundamentals of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Assignment - College of Business Administration - University of Sharjah, UAE

Essay Report (2000 words) - The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is a distinct region, covering a large region extending from Morocco to Oman, including all Middle Eastern and Maghreb countries, a region synonymous with the Greater Middle East. The population of the MENA region is about 381 million people; the vast majority living in middle-income countries represents about 6% of the total world population. MENA is usually grouped by international, economic, and academic organizations; influenced by economic and political transformations, but with an inheritance for better growth. Therefore, it benefits from a privileged geographic location - access to large markets, such as a young and frequently educated population, and comparative advantages in different sectors such as tourism, manufacturing, and renewable energies. Also, MENA economies are implementing reforms to improve employment, economic growth, diversification, governance structures, private sector development, and integrity.

Entrepreneurship is an essential driver for economic growth and innovation. A report on the Middle East's economic recovery (2016), highlighted the impact of entrepreneurship's "multiplier effect" on an economy. The report also claimed that for every ten successful new enterprises, nearly $1.5 billion in current valuations and more than 2,500 jobs are created. Furthermore, if we talk about the digital spaces, a generation of local MENA start-ups have emerged and gained a base throughout the value chains of various sectors, such as - e-commerce, logistics, digital music, last-mile delivery, and travel. All these illustrate the growth of local digital entrepreneurship. As a result, entrepreneurship (start-ups) in MENA region play an important role in technological innovation which is affected by several factors, such as differences in strategies, economic structure, infrastructures, environments, and culture.

Overall, the ecosystem encouraging the growth of MENA's digital entrepreneurship potential has been falling into place, with growing demand, increased government enablement, bolder entrepreneurs, and generating VC firms. However, to unlock all its entrepreneurship potential, we shall discuss the six best practices that all public and private investors-including VCs, CVCs, public entities, family offices, and so forth can adopt. We aim to examine the start-up scene environments in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia among others. You may wish to touch on the government strategies that support the start-up communities, the local challenges, and the unique strengths of each country. The report shall address such issues as:

1. How does technological advance occur, and what are the strategic processes and institutions involved?

2. How are new businesses created? To what extent is intellectual property protected?

3. Which cultural characteristics serve to promote or impede innovation? In what ways is wealth distributed or concentrated?

These are among the key questions framing policy and strategic decision-making at a firm, industry, national, and regional levels.

The reports may connect and relate the relationships and inter-dependencies among (1) Innovation, (2) Political Regime, and (3) Economic and Social Development. You shall consider whether innovation is demonstrated differently across sectors (e.g., health, education, technology) and disciplines (e.g., social sciences, physical sciences), with an emphasis on discovering emerging patterns, factors, triggers, catalysts, and accelerators to innovation, and their impact on future research, practice, and policy.

The reports should aim at investigating and exploring the theoretical knowledge that contributes to the MENA's digital presence; demographic shifts toward a tech-savvy population; and the exponential evolution of technology, as digital consumption in the MENA region is growing exponentially. The coming of age of entrepreneurship in the MENA region will hinge on the right enabling environment to support investor financing, growth, and value creation are essential. To unlock the start-up system, private and public investors must play an active role and take deliberate and concerted actions regarding investment theses, networking, growth mindset, investment scale, governance, and performance management. The best practices offered in this book are just the beginning; also, they form an essential foundation for the future of investment in MENA entrepreneurship. Below is a list of potential themes or topics of discussion:

Spatial, sectoral, socio-technical and socio-economic patterns of innovation

Innovation networks and knowledge clusters

Institutional and infrastructural aspects of innovation

Historical antecedents to innovation and new business creation

Regional innovative capacity and leadership

Cultural influences on innovation

The role of knowledge in regional development

Public vs. private sector influences

Commercialization of new technologies

Wealth creation and distribution

Intellectual property rights

Human capital and organizational aspects of innovation

The 'Quadruple Helix' model of innovation dynamics

The impacts of migration patterns, climate change, and other evolutionary events on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Contemporary and historical accounts can be considered that explore the intersection of entrepreneurial initiatives through the complex prism of Government, NGO's, Universities, and Civil Society: The Quadruple Helix Model of Innovation.

The reports should describe and discuss the past innovations, the present initiatives, efforts, and contributions, as well as the future developments and prospects in the industry, government, and not-for-profit sectors. Each report should approximately be 2000 words with a 5% window of more or less words. Also, the title of the report should accurately reflect the meaning of the report's content.

Content and Structure -

Essay Report

Introduction (Background information about your topic - discuss issues concerning an industry, country or region -, research purpose (i.e., aim) and objectives) (300 words)

Literature review (700 words)

Critical evaluation of secondary data (Comparable analysis of previous research findings) (700 words)

Conclusion & Recommendations (300 words)

Reference List (APA Referencing style)

Appendices