The fifth annual Global Competitiveness Forum convened when the global economy showed signs of tremor, due to the economic crisis, and focused on future growth. The conference’s theme “Innovation as a Means of Competitiveness” built on this focus on future growth and outlined the next phase in Saudi Arabia’s drive towards competitiveness. The insights that emerged during the conference were a testament to the growth and global scale of the GCF 2011.
How does innovation affect competitiveness? How can management and policymakers encourage innovation? What tools and equipment do people, organizations and nations need to innovate up to their maximum potential? To answer these questions, the world’s premier gathering on competitiveness challenges brought together over 2000 attendees representing 47 countries. Over 100 eminent leaders, executives and intellectuals spoke about their visionary perspectives on how to align a national competitiveness agenda with sustainability and social responsibility. Over 700 senior level delegates, including C-level executives, discussed issues and challenges raised. The exchange of ideas and the networking that took place at the GCF will hopefully have lasting and far-reaching repercussions on competitiveness.
While the GCF is global in scope, it has special relevance for us here in Saudi Arabia. In defining the country’s development strategy, the Supreme Economic Council, through the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, has committed to achieving world class economic competitiveness as the platform for enhanced prosperity. The first phase in this competitiveness drive was called the 10x10 program. The mission of the program was to transform Saudi Arabia into one of the world’s Top Ten most competitive economies by 2010. The GCF 2011 is a celebration of the successful completion of the 10x10 program. The objective of the 10x10 was to enhance Saudi Arabia’s competitiveness. In 2006 the country ranked 67th in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business survey and improved to 11th in 2010, a remarkable success over a period of just 5 years.
The 10x10 program originated 5 years ago, when Saudi Arabia identified several obstacles to achieving long-term growth and economic sustainability. Despite the country’s robust energy sector, low levels of economic diversification, a low level of labor participation and the rapid growth in youth population were all expected to affect the economy, namely the public sector. Saudi Arabia needed to do something and the answer was to improve the country’s competitiveness. Critical to the 10x10 program was the opening of the economy to private and foreign investors, which has led to a strong investment surge. FDI inflows during the economic crisis exceeded USD 35 billion, which showed the significant resilience of Saudi Arabia’s economy, since FDI in 2009 was only 7 percent lower than in 2008, USD 38 billion. Globally, FDI inflows for other emerging markets curtailed significantly.
Supported by this improved business environment, new ventures are attracting growing investment, providing greater employment and contributing to economic diversification, thereby enriching the lives of Saudi Arabia’s young, hopeful population of tomorrow. This competitiveness drive does not end with the 10x10 program. The second phase of competitiveness will be the Economic Cities, which will become new benchmarks in Saudi Arabia’s competitiveness. Within the Economic Cities, a benchmark of
60/24/7 will also be established, where any government process can be completed within 60 minutes 24/7. This is the vision of His Majesty King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, which guides our efforts. Yet to deliver sustainable prosperity, capitalism must be attentive to social, environmental, political and financial systems, with which it is intertwined. This imperative is reinforced daily by the pressure placed on the foundations of the world’s economic well-being. Achieving sustainable competitiveness has never been a more pressing challenge, neither for Saudi Arabia nor for other forward-looking nations.