The Role of Software Development & Other Knowledge Based Technologies in Dubai’s Development

by: Kate Henlay

Stability and strong fundamentals, not high growth and high returns, are very important to develop an economy. This is the lesson the global economic crisis has taught us. Dubai has also suffered by the worldwide financial downturn and financial pressure.

But indications of improvement are now emerging both at home and abroad. Assuming that we have learnt some lessons from the faults, it is high time to re-evaluate, reorganize and prepare a new plan for permanent economic expansion and prosperity. Various nations have come out smarter and wiser from fiscal and economic problems in the past and there is no reason that Dubai cannot do the same. But there are many challenges. Some need rapid solutions and others need a long-term strategy to fix. If we analyze even blogs in Arabic language, one can easily understand that even commoners can understand the problems.

The Minister of Labour lately said that the UAE is heading towards a knowledge-based economy which needs a smaller but extremely skilled workforce. The report shows that the government of UAE is looking forward at the future forms of things. According to new theories of growth, knowledge can lift the profits on investment, and as a result contribute to the accumulation of knowledge. It does this by inspiring more well-organized methods of organizing production as well as new and enhanced products and services. This creates the prospects of sustained increases in investment which can lead to nonstop rises in a nation’s growth rate. Knowledge can also spill out over from one section of industry to another, with fresh ideas used constantly at modest additional cost. Such spillovers can relieve the constraints placed on growth by scarcity of capital.

The example of the industry of web development in Dubai is a case in point. As the industry grows it not only involves software computer engineers but also provides opportunities of jobs for other professionals. For example thousands of professionals are involved in copy writing in Dubai. Because of the overflow of web sites in this digital age of ours the professionalism in any field is required to such a degree that content management systems in Dubai becomes a separate specialized field.

In this age of knowledge based economy, the commerce world has embraced novel concepts that have radically changed the way in which organizations are structured and the method in which they operate. With the arrival of the World Wide Web, worldwide economic struggle is now a brutal reality and is always on the increase. The world of business has become an ever-changing atmosphere in which organizations are compelled to adapt quickly as a means of endurance and competence. A key to survival is the generation of knowledge to understand a strategy to stay inventive and synchronous with the fast pace of economy and business. The development of soft industries has created a path for electronic business.

Investments in the teaching and enhancement of newly emerging knowledge like software development can increase the overall economy of UAE and transform it from a monotonous oil based economy to a multi dimensional post modern financial power.