Building an innovation-driven economy – the case of BRIC and GCC countries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to undertake an analysis of the attempts of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) countries to catch up in their national development to build an innovation-driven economy on which to base future growth and wealth. We conducted an analysis of GCC and BRIC countries to show the different strategies leaders have taken to try and achieve this aspiration. This paper analyses the various aspects of national innovation systems of BRIC and GCC countries, highlights similar and different approaches and attempts to quantify their success. For example, GCC countries spend extensively on research and development (R&D), but have so far achieved less than meaningful results. Brazil, China and India are catching up to the acknowledged world leaders in innovation, but Russia is lagging. Design/methodology/approach – Our comparison was based mostly on secondary data from sources and institutions that use statistical data to build country rankings,...