Manuscripts of the past and making the future

The UAE has never shirked from setting its sights on challenges that might not make it onto the radar in other nations: It has a ‘can do’ attitude that makes things happen and it looks to the future as an opportunity to be cherished and embraced, not met with trepidation, commented a UAE daily.

In an editorial on Wednesday, Gulf News said, "It’s this positive spirit that has powered this nation on its march of progress, and it’s why themes such as innovation become a philosophy of action, a roadmap for the uncharted challenges that lie over the temporal horizon.

The paper went on to say, "On Monday, in Dubai, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, participated in the week-long Innovation Festival, and inaugurated a fund in his name to boost innovative enterprises and support entrepreneurs with their projects.

"On the same day, he chaired the Mohammad bin Rashid Library Foundation’s first board of directors meeting. There’s an interesting corollary between the two, with the notion of innovation looking forward, while the concept of a library itself being seemingly rooted in the past. But taken together, the two go hand in hand.

"Across the Arab world, there is a long and cherished place for libraries, their collection of knowledge, their manuscripts and texts and their role in fostering creative thinking. And that’s exactly the type of incubator that will foster and promote thinking outside the box as entrepreneurs look at a notion and bring it to fruition.

"We do not want the library to simply be a place that houses books, but also a place that attracts youth and encourages and motivates them towards literature, culture and knowledge," Sheikh Mohammad said. That sentiment bridges both the past and the future in innovative thinking.