Camel racing farm visit - another adventure in learning strategy from traditional industries

This past Wednesday we went to two different camel farms in Sharjah, UAE to learn about camel racing and also to think about the strategy of camel racing...

It was another amazing trip - no rain this time, but plenty of heat and a misadventure when we went for "just 5 minutes" in the dunes! This time again I will let the photos tell the story!

First though, I invite you to watch this video of our demonstration of a camel robot  (click here). These robots replaced the young boys who were used in the past as jockeys, and the robots are placed on the back of the camel in the race and controlled by the remote control fob (like a car fob) by a person who drive a 4*4 on a track next to the track...

Now to the story!

The azba in Sharjah is about 2ish hours from Abu Dhabi - any road trip starts at a "shisha" or gas station 

Waiting for lunch!

Lunch arrives and it was delicious!!!!

Fruit, gawa, tea and dates after the lunch is cleared...

Oud and perfume to smell nice for the camels...

Camels drink this, mixed with water (a little like protein powder), for extra energy before a race (btw it stinks!)

Close up of a robot (like in the video)

They eat a lot of fresh (super expensive) grass... 

Injuries are treated in the traditional way, through branding (yes, some people even use it on humans, but only the super  traditional ones)

"Fair and lovely" camel - super white and pretty

This plant is like Gatorade for camels, it restores nutrients and minerals after a race 

Camel training in 40+ degree heat!

These camels are "retired" and used to train other camels

Stinky (and sticky) part of a camel, used to attract a "wife"

Camel farm(s) visit over - it's desert time - oops, wait a minute!

Too much air in the tire!

Teamwork!

Professor work (taking photos of trees and collecting sand for Mom!)

More teamwork required!

Unintentional cool photo of more camels training

On the long way back to Abu Dhabi we passed a group of a special type of gazelle called Maha

Article snapshot: “Technological innovation in the United Arab Emirates: process and challenges”

This blog post is a snapshot of an accepted article in a peer reviewed journal. If you wish to quote the information in this post please cite:

Al Hallami, M., Van Horne, C., Huang, V.Z., (accepted) “Technological Innovation in the United Arab Emirates: Process and Challenges”, Transnational Corporations Review.

Just today we found out that an article that had been hanging around for awhile (and most recently updated with some new data) was accepted for publication in a peer reviewed journal! Did I mention the first author is an Emirati? Young woman? Just now finishing her Master's? Well, yeah :) This just shows what hard work can accomplish.

The article's journey started a few years ago - when Mariam and I worked on it for a conference. It then became the spark for a chapter the two of us published on Innovation in Abu Dhabi - which was just published this year. Whereas the chapter looked at innovation from a strategic perspective, this article looks specifically at the process and the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in that process.

There are two main questions that motivated the research:

1. Is there anything unique about the R&D and innovation process used by the Emirati entrepreneur? 
2. Could the process be more efficient?
1. What steps in the process are most in need of external support?

R&D data from MENA and the UAE

First, the data from the 2011 UAE GEM Report paint a bleak picture of the technological innovations even used by entrepreneurs in the UAE. I explained more fully in another blog post, but basically close to 100% of SMEs are in industries considered low to no-tech.

Furthermore, the R&D investment rates of the UAE are low - and even when the whole MENA Region is considered, expenditures represent less than 1% of world wide R&D spending.

Adapted from UNESCO Institute of Statistic, “A Global Perspective On R&D” (2009)

Those aren't statistics that make the innovation researcher's heart swell for sure! On the other hand, there is nowhere to go but up!

Case study

There are inventors and entrepreneurs in the UAE though - Emiratis with patents and companies trying to bring high tech products to the global market. The case study follows the innovation process of a round floating mobile platform, termed the “floating villa” by the Al Hallami Group.  It is a newly introduced product to solve problems such as the lack of space and land in major cities and tourist attraction places. “The purpose of this innovation is to introduce a feasible solution to minimize environmental damages while making use of sea area.  It is a mixture of an environmental friendly, strong, safe, stable; size variable and mobile construction that is a blend of both a yacht and a villa.” (Al Hallami, 2010).

Innovation Process

From studying the idea to commercialization process, interviews, site visits and reviewing the patents the following process was identified. It is similar to ones found in the literature - there are phases and it is iterative - but how it mainly differs is the lack of access to public industrial research centers or universities research groups who could assist local companies with applied research projects or even projects that take "theory to the shop floor". I am very familiar with these types of relationships in Canada (OK, maybe I wrote a PhD thesis about it or something like that) and they do work... in more ways than just simple technology transfer.

Al Hallami Group “Floating Villa” innovation process

Suggestions

As a result of this paper R&D exploration in processes, two main suggestions were made. There appears to be a need to increase support and government backed initiatives for large-scale R&D processes by creating government funded applied research centers, funding opportunities for collaborative research with universities and researchers and increase support for graduate engineering and technical education for the local Emirati population.

Secondly, creating R&D focused privately based venture capital funds could be encouraged perhaps through the development of an Islamic based venture capital framework where funds could be considered part of the Zakat[1] every Muslim annually pays.

I am pleased with this article and happy that it has finally found a home. Of course I will update the post when it appears in Google Scholar - I celebrate every new addition to my profile there and I think my nerdyness has rubbed off on the lead author as well!!!!!

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[1] The yearly act of giving charity and supporting the community based on the total wealth of the individual. 

Emirati Male Youth Entrepreneurship: Yousef's poster presentation at the MIT-Masdar Institute Forum on entrepreneurship and innovation

Last Monday I attended the the Masdar Institute and MIT national forum on innovation and entrepreneurship.  We got the invitation a few days ahead of time and I noticed that students were invited to submit posters on "commercializeable research". As you might remember (loyal readers all) I am supervising a project by Yousef Al Shehhi on Emirati Male Youth Entrepreneurship.

Hmmmmm... it didn't really fit, but if I only did things according to strict rules I would still be on Vancouver Island working at BC Ferries.

So, with only a few days to get the poster ready we had to work fast. Yousef was volunteering at the Abu Dhabi book fair and didn't have access to all his notes... so he bbmed me what he wanted to be included and I had an older version of his notes and it got cobbled together!

Al Shehhi, Van Horne and Huang 2013

I should mention that I was taught how to do academic posters by true masters... so while it is not perfect, we are proud of how it turned out.

So, we sent it in a few hours before the deadline - and the next day we learn it was accepted for presentation (but the presentation was the next day!) They said they loved his research :) Yousef arranged with his professors to miss his classes and he started to prepare. It was his first poster presentation - and while he had presented his work before, this was the first time in public.

Monday morning arrives and I get there early and I only see three posters! And the other two are obviously advanced Master's or PhD posters...

Yousef Al Ahehhi: Research Assistant at ZU

Yousef, as with all my students to date, do not display the nervousness I add when I first started presenting - it was like he had done this a million times before!

Yousef explaining his project to students from the Masdar Institute

He had many visitors and he had to stay until the end as there were many people who wanted to speak with him. He has been invited to present his results at a few organisations in Abu Dhabi and he impressed the people at the Masdar Institute. Needless to say I am a very proud professor!

The next steps are catching up on Wamda posts (he has been very busy), getting the remaining data and then preparing the final report and presentation. In addition he will prepare a short workshop on entrepreneurship in Arabic to give to some of the students at ZU still concentrating on learning English. Perhaps he will present it in a high school... we will see.

So prepare for another post in the next few weeks :) Perhaps even a guest blog post (I hope you are reading this Yousef!)

Wild wadi rising: another adventure in learning strategy through experience

This past Tuesday I experienced something that only comes around once every few years, and when it does come it is unpredictable and awe inspiring - a wadi flooding with water runoff from the mountains after a flash rainstorm that dumped more rain in a half an hour than the UAE gets in some years!

My Strategy/Capstone (basically the same group of graduating students) classes were on a field trip to the Hatta region of the UAE - it was organised by "The Hatta Group" as part of their eco-tourism development project (another blog post to come after their final report).

We started out at the Azba of one of the students - a true paradise in the valley of the Hatta mountains. We ended the day at the Azba to eat a meal prepared by Emiratis from at least four Emiratis, working together, improvising, dealing with somewhat stressful situations, critical thinking and all the while wondering, why don't more people visit this beautiful region only 90 minutes from Dubai (some real opportunities for eco-tourism SMEs).

As befitting my students from Hatta, who prefer experiential learning and "doing" to books and boring ppt slides (I was told I did not need to eat part of the lamb's tongue as I can talk too easily already!) I will explain the story through photos and a truly awe inspiring video. (I sound dorky, but really it is worth my own embarrassment to post it)

I felt like I was in Africa, not the UAE!

Traditional Hatta breakfast for guests - soooooo delicious (and the date and bread dish needs to be made into energy bars!)

Miss, you need some exercise and there are fig trees and plants to see!

Walking down was not easier... but totally worth it!

A delicious wild plant, sort of tastes lemony...

Huge pomegranate tree!

Dates soaking up all the rain we have had in April. 

After a bit of an off road adventure, arriving at the wadi - the water is cool on the feet

Preparing the fire to cook lunch - totally old school except for that fire torch thing!

Cleaning the meat

These flowering trees grow along the wadi - they smell awesome!

The water just seemed to disappear into the rocks, but the ground was solid - mystery!

After a few culinary disagreements - it smells delicious

S. Al Shehhi "I smell a wadi coming" - Dr. Connie "Whatever!"  From hot sun to clouds and thunder and lighting (Saif, you were right and I was totally wrong!!! I am sorry :))

A few drops turns into more - we race for the vehicles, we will come back for the lunch 

Harder and harder rain - ah, yeah, let's get to high ground!

Water started to run from the mountains into little brown streams

As we get to higher ground, people come to see if the wadi will rise!

Rain... lots of it!

Let's head back (we seem to be missing on truck FULL of students)

We found them getting ready to see the wadi... we stayed and watched

From a dry "road" to a rushing river in less than an hour!

Water everywhere!

Luckily the last 4x4 rescued lunch! It had finished cooking in the back of the truck and we ate like royalty!