Israel trumps the Arab world

DOHA: There is no doubt that Israel is superior to all Arab countries in the sphere of Information Technology, a comparative study between Arab nations and Israel on ‘Scientific Research and Patent Rights Compared’ conducted by Dr Khalid Said Rubaia, a Palestinian researcher at American Arab University in Palestine, says.

Israel spends 4.7 percent of its total GDP on scientific research, which is the highest in the world. However, Arab states are spending 0.2 percent of their total incomes and Asian Arab countries around 0.5 percent of their incomes on research, said
the report.

Regarding patent rights, Israel has registered 16,805 patents. However, Arab countries have only 836 patents which is 5 percent of what Israel has.

Israel spends 0.8-1 percent of the total expenditure of the world on research work and Arab states spend 0.4 percent. It means Israel spends more than double that spent by Arab countries in
this field.

Israel spends 4.7 percent of its income on research. However, Arab countries spend 0.2 percent of their total income on the same. United States spends about 2.7 percent of its income, UK 1.8 and Germany 2.6 percent on research work.

Asian Arab countries spend less than 0.1 percent of their total income on research work which is five times less than African countries which are spending 0.5 percent of their total income, according to a Unesco report. Arab countries spend about half of Israel though their GDP soared 11 times that of Israel and the area is more than 649 times.

Regarding per capita expenditure on scientific research, Israel stands at the number one position by spending $1272.8 per capita. United States ranks second with $1205.9 and Japan third by spending $1153.3. However, the Arab countries ranked hundred times less than Israel by spending an average of $14.7 annually per capita.

And the oil rich Asian Arab countries spend $11.9 per capita which is equal to African poor countries whose per capita expenditure reached $9.4.