K16: The Emirates’ competitiveness strategy
I spoke at the Kazakhstan Growth Forum 2016 (K16) on the UAE's competitiveness strategy on 21 Sep 2016. The presentation can be found here.
I spoke at the Kazakhstan Growth Forum 2016 (K16) on the UAE's competitiveness strategy on 21 Sep 2016. The presentation can be found here. 
English is the modern lingua franca Jessica Hill September 7, 2016 Updated: September 7, 2016 02:36 PM [caption id="attachment_2944" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Dr Kai Chan, a distinguished fellow of Insead, used 20 indicators to measure the five basic opportunities afforded by language. Antoine Robertson / The National[/caption] Imagine an alien landed on Earth wanting to interact with humans. Which language would afford them the best opportunities for interaction and success? That’s the question Kai Chan asked himself when, as an associate fellow of Insead, he wrote his research paper "The Power Language Index". Aiming to pinpoint the world’s most influential and powerful languages, Mr Chan used 20 indicators to measure five basic opportunities afforded by language – geography, economy, communication, knowledge and media, and diplomacy. It might come as no surprise that English ranked in the top spot, with a score of 0.889 – more than double that of the No 2 ranking, the rising star Mandarin. "This index is a snapshot in time and 16 years ago, Mandarin wouldn’t be anywhere close to where it is now," says Mr Chan. "Going forwards, its numbers will surely increase." Mr Chan, 41, was born to a Chinese peasant family on the streets… 
Top three data challenges for the Middle East 30 AUGUST, 2016 BY JENNIFER AGUINALDO MEED talks to Kai Chan, economist and distinguished fellow at French business school Insead, on what the Middle East has to address to gain the maximum benefit from Big Data. Big Data requires highly numerate people to work with the data Data must be robust, reliable and correct People, businesses, and governments need to be more curious to use the power of Big Data MEED talks to Kai Chan, economist and distinguished fellow at French business school Insead, on what the Middle East has to address to gain the maximum benefit from Big Data MEED: What are the top three challenges that the Middle East has to address if they were to gain the maximum benefit from Big Data?Kai Chan: One, bringing up the human capital skills that can work with Big Data. Big Data is complex; it requires highly numerate people to work with the data and, more importantly, to understand the data and the insights that will come from asking the right research questions and applying the right theories and mathematical or statistical tests to generate fresh insights that can be used to make… 
TITLE The UAE's competitiveness strategy: The use of international benchmarks to guide policy. ABSTRACT In less than two generations, the UAE transformed itself from an unknown, sparsely-populated desert nation into a globally competitive country that is home to the Arab world's first global city (Dubai). The nation is now a tourism hot spot that is home to several global brands, including Emirates Airlines. The nation is also favourably known for its foresight in developing a large SWF that has been used to spur research and innovation in the country (e.g. Mubadala). The UAE was, on paper, one of the least likely place in the Arab world to become its leading nation. Although hydrocarbon wealth initially catapulted the nation, today it accounts for less than a quarter of its GDP, and just 2 percent of output in Dubai. Underpinning the Emirate's meterioric rise is strategic policy planning by the government through the use of third-party international benchmarks to incentivise both public and private sector stakeholders. Competitiveness KPIs have enabled a high degree of transparency within the UAE, a quality missing from much of the region. Most notably, the nation's strategic development goals (Vision 2021) target outcomes in international competitiveness reports. BIO… 
Dubai's competitiveness through international benchmarks (10 Aug 2016) In less than 2 generations, Dubai transformed itself from an unknown, sparsely-populated desert outpost into a global city and tourism hot spot that is home to several global brands, including Emirates Airlines. Dubai was, on paper, the least likely place in the Arab world to become its premier city. Most remarkable about its ascension is that hydrocarbons have played only a secondary role in its development. Today, oil accounts for just 2 percent of its GDP. Underpinning the emirate's meteoric rise is strategic policy planning by the government through the use of third-party international benchmarks to incentivise both public and private sector stakeholders. Competitiveness KPIs have enabled a level of transparency within Dubai, a quality missing from much of the region. What future lies ahead for the emirate as an era of low oil prices depresses the MENA region and as it aspires to transform into a knowledge economy? 
Gulf Nations Must Develop Soft Infrastructure Sparkling office towers won’t draw business without the right policies. JULY 22, 2016 Author: MARK TOWNSEND Governments of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are reacting to the collapse in oil prices in varying degrees, but none can return to the status quo ante of handouts and expensive state-backed subsidies. For years the GCC has lavished billions of dollars on projects, many of which turned out to be white elephants. Perhaps the most vivid example is the 59 mostly empty towers of King Abdullah Financial District in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh. Reportedly costing $7.8 billion, with floor space of more than 3 million square meters, the project is bereft of the investment bankers it sought to attract. For many, the project symbolizes the latent disconnect between the Gulf’s tendency to spend billions on grandiose infrastructure yet overlook the equally important “soft” infrastructure of regulation, governance and human capital. There are, however, exceptions. The Dubai International Financial Centre, which Riyadh was trying to emulate, has managed to set itself apart from other regional competitors and is noted for the quality of its regulation and transparency embedded in a tax-free zone. Although GCC countries have begun… 
The 15th Munich Economic Summit (Jun 30-Jul 1, 2016) addressed the migrant crisis under the theme of "Migration: opportunity or challenge?" The topic of one of the summit's breakout sessions was "immigrating into the workforce", an assessment of the challenges that Germany (and Europe) will face in absorbing the migrants into the labour market. I shared a personal essay on my own migrant experience in Germany to help initiate the discussion: "Immigrating into the workforce." It will be a difficult challenge for Germany and Europe to integrate the recent wave of migrants given the huge gulf (social, cultural, cognitive, etc.) between them and modern, secular Europe. History has also shown that the migrants groups currently entering Europe have a checkered history of integration. The discussion note can be found here. 
Power Language Index There are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world today, but some 2,000 of them count fewer than a thousand speakers. Moreover, just 15 of them account for half of the languages spoken in the world. Which are the world's most influential languages? The Power Language Index is a measure of a language's efficacy by measuring its influence in 5 domains ("opportunities"): (1) geography, (2) economy, (3) communication, (4) knowledge & media, and (5) diplomacy. Within each of these opportunities is a set of indicators, totalling 20 in entirety for the index. The index is a cardinal measure with a range [0,1]. Below are the ten most powerful languages: English (0.889) Mandarin Chinese (0.411) French (0.337) Spanish (0.329) Arabic (0.273) Russian (0.244) German (0.191) Japanese (0.133) Portuguese (0.119) Hindi (0.117) English is by far the most powerful language, and is over twice as strong as its closest rival (Mandarin Chinese) and eight times as effective as the tenth most dominant language (Hindi).There are many interesting consequences and insights from the index. For example, in spite of being the second largest contributor to both the IMF and UN budgets, Japanese are highly under-represented in senior positions in either institution, and Japanese… 
IIPI Policy Breakfast Series - May 2016 *The Policy Breakfasts are a series of early morning seminars that focuses on current policy issues through the lenses of academics and practitioners in industry and government. The series is aimed at professionals concerned with government policy. The Power Language Index - The Most Influential Languages in the Word Speaker: Dr. Kai Chan, Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD Innovation & Policy Initiative (IIPI). Dr. Chan is also an advisor to the UAE federal government on national competitiveness and statistics. Wednesday, 25 May 2016 INSEAD Middle East Campus in Abu Dhabi, 08.30-10.30am The Power Language Index - The Most Influential Languages in the World A rigorous assessment of the efficacy of language in geography (travel), economy, communication and diplomacy. (Does language predict the outcome of the global elite?) There are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world today, but some 2,000 of them count fewer than a thousand speakers. Moreover, just 15 of them account for half of the languages spoken in the world. Which are the world's most influential languages? The Power Language Index is a measure of a language's efficacy by measuring its influence in 5 domains ("opportunities"): (1) geography, (2) economy, (3) communication,… 
In a bid to stay competitive, companies across industries are generating a significant amount of data and utilizing different tools and techniques to gain useful insights. Against this backdrop, the Smart Data Summit that commenced today explored how organizations can harness the power of big data and analytics to derive maximum business value. Supported by Federal Competitiveness Statistics Authority (FCSA) and organized by global conference producers, Expotrade, the summit attracted over 300 senior IT, marketing and business intelligence specialists. The summit was opened by Dr Kai L. Chan, Special Adviser - National Competitiveness, Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA). He delivered the keynote session on the topic using robust data and modelling to win Expo 2020. He emphasized upon the importance of data-driven analysis (DDA for policy and planning). Yousuf Mohammed Al Shaiba, Director - Smart Services Development Dept., Ajman Municipality & Planning Department took the discussion further during his session on creating a Smart Government, emphasizing on the smart services offered by Ajman Municipality. The summit saw over 20 prominent experts and sector specialists including Mohammad Shokoohi-Yekta, Data Scientist, Apple; Sayan Dasgupta, Senior Data Scientist, LinkedIn; Usama Qasem, Regional Digital & Content Marketing Manager, IKEA and Michael Sultan, Senior… 
