Education infrastructure; entrepreneurship higher education; knowledge-based economy; innovation; Saudi Arabia
Saudi’s mission to diversify its economy depends heavily on innovation and entrepreneurship. The discussion evaluated the role of universities in building a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia, employing a literature review and gap analysis method to design an approach for universities to play the aforementioned role. The literature review reveals that the role played by universities entails providing entrepreneurship education, providing support resources, and partnerships with non-academic institutions, while the gap analysis undertaken reveals that Saudi Arabia has made significant strides towards equipping its universities to contribute to innovation and entrepreneurship, but lags behind the top ten leaders. The proposed initiative model entails seeking strategic alignment between university contributions and local and national economic goals, collaborating with international institutions to replicate best practices in Saudi Arabia, and establishing formal frameworks for partnerships with relevant stakeholders in innovation and entrepreneurship. Upon evaluation, the main arguments for the model rest on its focus on strategic alignment and partnerships, while counterarguments involve bureaucratic restrictions on innovation and entrepreneurial spirit owing to formal frameworks with the government, as well possibilities of exportation of ideas and benefits away from Saudi Arabia through international partnerships. To address the aforementioned c
Full Text : PDF
- Efi, A. E. (2014). The role of higher institutions in promoting entrepreneurship and small business in developing nations: The Nigerian experience. International Journal for Innovation Education and Research, 2(09), 15-22.
- Mehta, J., Vaidya, J., Chaudhary, R., Ramamrajan, V., & Ranjan, A. (2014). Saudi Arabia: Emergence of an innovation kingdom. An Aranca Special Report. Retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/aranca.s3.images/aranca/Saudi-Arabia-Emergence-of-an-Innovation-Kingdom-An-Aranca-Special-Report.pdf
- National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce. (2010). Incubating the future: Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia. U.S.-Arab Tradeline, 18(1), 3-40.
- Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2009). Universities, innovation and entrepreneurship: Criteria and examples of good practice. OECD. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/43201452.pdf
- Rahatullah, M, K., (2013). Mapping entrepreneurship ecosystem of Saudi Arabia. World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 9(1), 1-14.
- Salem, M. I. (2014A). Building an entrepreneurial economy: Evidence from developing countries. International Business & Economics Research Journal, 13(3), 629-636.
- Salem, M. I. (2014B). The role of universities in building a knowledge-based economy in Saudi Arabia. International Business & Economics Research Journal, 13(5), 1047-1056.
- Tornatzky, L. G., & Rideout, E. C. (2014). Innovation U 2.0: Reinventing university roles in a knowledge economy. Society of Research Administrators International, 45(1). Retrieved from http://www.innovation-u.com/InnovU-2.0_rev-12-14-14.pdf
- Vicens, L., & Grullón, S. (2011). Innovation and entrepreneurship: A model based on entrepreneur development. Fifth Americas Competiveness Forum for the Inter-American Development Bank and Compete Caribbean, 1-19.
- Wells, J. (2012). The role of universities in technology entrepreneurship. Technology Innovation Management Review, 35-40.