H.E. Zaki Nusseibeh, Cultural ‎Adviser to H.H. the President of the UAE and Chancellor of ‎the UAE University today addressed the global launch of ‎the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, following ‎opening remarks by H.E. Dr. Ahmad Belhoul, Minister of ‎State for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium ‎Enterprises. ‎

He said, The UAEU is also proud to spearhead the GEM ‎research within the UAE.  The GEM report provides data on ‎entrepreneurial activity, infrastructure, and trends that is ‎needed by decision makers at all levels and all sectors to ‎understand and take action, whether in academic research, ‎policy formation, financial investment and spending, or ‎international organisation and thought leadership. The ‎UAE s contribution to the globally networked GEM ‎infrastructure also demonstrates our wish to foster and forge ‎the international collaborations that provide for future ‎security, stability, and sustainability .‎

The Chancellor explained the importance of the occasion, ‎saying, Entrepreneurship has been a central feature of UAE ‎policy and strategy since the foundation of the nation. ‎Entrepreneurs are transformational leaders, able to convince ‎people that change is possible and worthwhile. We are ‎blessed to have had such leaders at the helm, from the ‎beginning. To build the economic, social, and environmental ‎infrastructure that we enjoy today, the UAE has required ‎entrepreneurial skills of innovation, critical problem-solving, ‎and risk-taking. We have relied on the investments of ‎entrepreneurs in establishing SMEs to diversify and make ‎sustainable the economic fabric of the country. We have ‎invested in the creative sector, providing the infrastructure to ‎support cultural industries that stimulate us to imagine ‎alternative possibilities.‎

In affirmation of the Minister s opening words, Chancellor ‎Nusseibeh said, Entrepreneurship is vital to the future ‎development of the UAE. It is for this reason that we have ‎the National Entrepreneurship Agenda 2031 and the Fifty ‎Economic Plan which set the goal for the UAE to achieve ‎global recognition for its robust entrepreneurial ecosystem. ‎Yet these documents recognise that today, entrepreneurship ‎and national economic development are policy agendas ‎that are essentially interconnected to global sustainability in ‎economic, social and environmental domains. They also ‎recognise that such global sustainability depends on ‎entrepreneurial thought and action. We continue to require ‎people who are able to critically analyse complex problems ‎and create innovative solutions. We continue to require ‎people who are able to take the risk to invest in change. We ‎continue to require transformational leaders, able to ‎persuade others to change their expectations, attitudes, and ‎actions .‎

Wishing to place the focus on entrepreneurship in the ‎context of the university s mission, he said, As the ‎University of the Future the UAEU provides the educational ‎and research accelerators to drive forward the UAE s ‎national priorities and principles for the next 50 years. The ‎University s research activity is geared to outcomes such as ‎patents, translation to industry, and blue skies innovation. ‎We drive future sustainability by offering practical solutions ‎to improve inclusion and cohesion in social, environmental, ‎and commercial affairs. We link to and progress ‎international agendas for advanced technology and the ‎fourth industrial revolution. We partner with industry, ‎government, and communities to identify the ‎transformations needed for long-term development .‎

The Chancellor also explained that the UAEU s ‎infrastructure and R&D activity in support of ‎entrepreneurship builds a stock of intellectual resources that ‎directly inform the entrepreneurial assets of the educational ‎programs that students follow. He said, We therefore ‎graduate young people who have skills of innovation, ‎critical problem-solving, and risk-taking, and the aptitudes ‎of flexibility and leadership. These graduates are the future ‎generations who, having grown up in a culture of ‎entrepreneurship, will establish the UAE as a global ‎entrepreneurship hub for professionals, independent ‎business-people from all over the world, and new ventures .‎

The Chancellor expressed his gratitude to the authors of the ‎GEM report. He said, I commend the work of all those who ‎have contributed to the production of this wonderful ‎resource on entrepreneurship in the UAE. I also commend ‎the wider network of international partners who provide ‎similar inputs for other nations. Let us remember that the ‎sustainability of our future is mutually dependent and ‎interconnected. ‎

‎ Dr. Aileen Ionescu-Somers, GEM Executive Director:‎Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) congratulates the ‎United Arab Emirates for achieving the highest score (6.8) ‎on the GEM National Entrepreneurship Conditions Index ‎‎(NECI), ranking first globally for the year 2021-2022.‎