Diversification is the principal economic objective for the Gulf States. The steep and sustained fall in oil prices over the last few years has added to the collective urgency to seek new sources of revenue. As such, the overriding theme of regional economic summits in recent years has focused on the question, "how do we transition to a knowledge-based economy?"

This is the central question taken up by the contributors to this volume. A growing body of literature has begun to address how state policy in conjunction with universities, think tanks, and businesses can create the groundwork to support knowledge-intensive industries. But, so far, comparatively little work has been done on the potential of this matrix of policies to succeed in the current political and economic context of the GCC.

This volume assesses current policies designed to engender knowledge-based economies in the region and analyzes how a diverse array of actors, including government agencies, national and transnational businesses, universities, and individuals coordinate and mediate the transmission of knowledge to support knowledge-intensive industries.

This volume is based on a workshop held at the Gulf Research Meeting organized by the Gulf Research Center Cambridge in summer 2015.