Wharton’s Agreement with Abu Dhabi-Based Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training	Print Issue
September 15, 2009, Volume 56, No. 03

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania announced an agreement this summer with the Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training (CERT), a preeminent private education provider in the Middle East. Cornerstones of the agreement between Wharton and the Abu Dhabi-based CERT include two initiatives that are aimed at the creation and dissemination of Wharton research. Wharton and CERT will establish a Research Center where Wharton faculty will study entrepreneurship, innovation and family business. Wharton and CERT will collaborate on the development of an Arabic language version of Knowledge@Wharton, Wharton’s award-winning online business journal.

The Wharton-CERT relationship formally commenced on August 1. On November 1, 2009 a senior delegation from the University of Pennsylvania will travel to Abu Dhabi to take part in the Festival of Thinkers and celebrate the signing of this agreement.

“The Wharton-CERT partnership is a key example of an innovative collaboration that helps pave the way for putting global knowledge into practice,” said President Amy Gutmann.

“At Penn, we are committed to using our vast intellectual resources to gain knowledge and insights for use in the search for solutions to some of the most vexing problems facing our world today. This new initiative will advance our understanding of the Middle East and provide our faculty with rich new areas for research.”

This collaboration between CERT and Wharton represents a significant milestone in our continuing quest for promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in UAE and the Region. Hosting the Arabic edition of Knowledge@Wharton portal provides tremendous opportunity for disseminating knowledge on a broad range of research projects involving family businesses and entrepreneurship,” said  Dr. Tayeb Kamali, Group Chief Executive of CERT and Vice Chancellor of HCT.

“We are pleased to partner with CERT for knowledge creation and dissemination,” said Wharton Dean Thomas S. Robertson. “Our alumni in the region have always provided Wharton with a unique link to the Middle East.  This is an important first step in Wharton’s role in the Gulf and broader Middle East region. We are looking forward to our work in Abu Dhabi and the Gulf Region.”

Professor Raphael (Raffi) Amit, the Robert B. Goergen Professor of Entrepreneurship, will spearhead Wharton’s engagement with CERT for the formation of the Wharton Entrepreneurship and Family Business Research Center. “As one of the first business schools to establish a center for entrepreneurship, we are very pleased to join with CERT in this significant academic endeavor,” he said. “We stand to gain greater clarity on innovation and family business to the benefit of the United Arab Emirates and more broadly, the Middle East.”

The Arabic edition of Knowledge@Wharton will disseminate knowledge in print and through video casts and podcasts. The site, by making extensive use of mobile technology, will analyze business trends in the Middle East and their impact on the larger global community.

The Arabic edition will become the first site in the Middle East to join the Knowledge@Wharton Network, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary. K@W has a global audience of 1.3 million subscribers via editions in the US, Latin America, China and India.

Mukul Pandya, executive director and editor in chief of the Knowledge@Wharton Network said “We expect the Arabic version to be a source of global insight for people in the Middle East and a source of knowledge about the region for the K@W audience.”