Program

Lead Organization

The World Bank. 

Partners

Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), European Investment Bank (EIB), INSEAD (Graduate business school), European Commission (EC) and others.

Challenges

The challenges cited below apply to the new phase of the Knowledge Economy Program (2015-2020) focusing on Tunisia:

• Absence of country-by-country approach while elaborating an action plan on Knowledge Economy.
• Missing dialogue with the new Tunisian government and all the stakeholders concerned with this topic.

Program Objective

• To place a new, knowledge-based, productivity-driven growth model at the center of development strategies for countries in the Mediterranean region.
• To develop a model of economic growth that is based on knowledge and innovation, following the overall movement toward the knowledge economy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region. In addition to reinforcing regional integration, the model aims to create millions of decent jobs and to stimulate economic growth.
• In its next phase (2015-20) the program will focus on Tunisia, with a report that will offer a new vision for Tunisia to adapt to and implement the knowledge economy.

Selected Results

• Deepened knowledge: The regional knowledge economy report (Transforming Arab Economies: Traveling the Knowledge and Innovation Road, The World Bank, 2013) places a knowledge- and innovation-driven model at the heart of new development strategies in the region. Given the diversity of the Arab world, it does not provide a single approach but offers examples from the region, as well as from countries ranging from Finland to Korea that have implemented effective strategies to maximize the use of knowledge.
• Informed policy choice: The development of the regional knowledge economy report involved extensive consultations in Morocco and Tunisia. The report was also disseminated in Algeria, Beirut, Cairo, Cambridge, and Qatar.
• Rabat Declaration on the Knowledge Economy: The regional knowledge economy conference for the Arab world in June 2013 included the dissemination of the regional report and concluded with the Rabat Declaration which reaffirmed the interest of organizations and representatives of the relevant Arab states in organizing a state summit for leaders of the Arab world in the coming two years that would lead to the development of a common knowledge- and innovation-driven agenda for the region.