Page 5 - sjsi

EDITORIAL 5

FOR THESE REASONS, BOTH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS SHOULD PRIORITIZE THE

SUPPORT FOR R&D DURING POST WAR ERA IN SYRIA?

Chief Editor

Over a decade of war, unprecedented
drought, COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, and
recent earthquake, all made Syria's economy
struggling to stabilize and grow, while many
Syrians are exploring options to cope and
maintain basic needs such as electricity,
irrigation and clean water.
Lessons from countries around the globe tell
us a lot. In fact, the boost of R&D in countries
like Germany and Japan was basically initiated
right after cannons became silent. During
WWII, United States Office of scientific
research and development (OSRD) greatly
enriched public investments in applied R&D, Opening ceremony for the Fourth Syrian Expatriate
where thousands of contracts between firms Researchers Conference (SERC), 2022.
and universities were signed to perform
research essential to the war and post-war Investing in R&D activities is a prerequisite to speed up recovery
efforts. The Islamic Republic of Iran is another and economy growth.
interesting example. While the country is
under intense sanctions, revenues from R&D
activities in the past few years constituted a Current indicators in Syria show that R&D spending constituted only
major share in the country GDP. 0.02% of the country GDP in 2015, compared to 0.72 average of the
Arab countries and to 0.88% of Iran, 1.1% in Russia, 1.09% in Turkey,
and 2.63% average of world.

We seriously need to enhance spending on R&D in Syria and
establishing the correct and operational enabling R&D ecosystem for
the following reasons: 1) R&D is the important driver of economic
growth; 2) R&D might lead to innovative solutions to non-traditional
challenges Syria faces; 3) Many local experts and skilled personnel
could be attracted to R&D activities, which might mitigate their
continuous migration out of the country; 4) without sustained R&D
activities, Syrian goods will certainly loose competitiveness in local
and global markets; 5) Due to war, Syria has lost a major fraction of
AlBasel Fair for Creativity & Invention the countries natural resources. This is why a gradual transform into
2019. knowledge based economy, which usually heavily relies on R&D, is

badly needed.
The bottom line, R&D is suitable in all times, all situations, and more
essential and worthy in the time of war than in the time of rest and
peace.

SJSI – 2023: VOLUME 1-1