Middle East Science Report

Today, the state of Middle Eastern scientific thought has reached its nadir. This 100 page plus report over 10 sections was produced via a combined 1,000 plus man-hours. It is a humble jeu d'esprit to help return our region on a path towards zenith. We have profiled 57 institutions that have funded, supported and published close to 1,500 significant scientific papers and registered over 30,000 unique patents. However, the region is still lagging both international best practices and closer regional best practices. The Middle East boasts only a mere two Nobel Science Prizes. My alma mater, Columbia University, has 61 (and a total of 82 if we include Nobel prizes in Peace, Literature and Economics). On a more positive note, we managed to interview 20 of the brightest minds from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and it is our personal belief that brighter days for science in the Middle East are surely ahead, for these accomplished minds and their collective wisdom, is sure to inspire a new generation of MENA scientists, polymaths, scholars and technology entrepreneurs.