As part of Innovation Week:

In response to the directives of His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Chancellor of the United Arab Emirates University, and as part of UAE Innovation Week, the Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies organized a ‘Future of Science Parks’ symposium on Wednesday, November 25^th, 2015. It was held at the UAEU Science and Technology Park and was sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations Ltd (ADCO), the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC), and the UAEU Science and Innovation Park.

The Symposium dealt with marketing innovations. The speakers addressed several points of view and a number of new ideas. Mr. Josep Miquel Piqué, President of Technova Barcelona – La Salle Innovation Park, President-elect (2016) of the International Association for Science Parks gave a keynote speech in which he said that UAEU and the UAEU Science and Innovation Park have huge potential to contribute to the support of acknowledge-based economy for the UAE.

Dr. Raffaele Buompane, Senior Advisor and Project Manager of the European Business Network, presented a model for strategic partnerships between advisory bodies in the field of business networks and start-ups; while Professor Wayne Patterson discussed models for the best ways to attract capital, stimulate scientific research and development, and support levels of efficiency that can contribute to advances in UAE society.

The symposium concluded with a panel discussion between faculty, students and experts. It dealt with the advantages of scientific parks and the transformation of scientific research into sustainable products. It recommended the development of a road map to achieve the desired results at the UAEU Science and Innovation Park. This would rely upon internal and external partnerships between scientific parks and should attract creators and innovators from around the country, indeed the world, to participate in its development. They also recommended facilities and services for scientific parks, and discussed choosing a strategic site for the park so that it would be a suitable destination for researchers from both inside and outside the country.