Omar BizriOmar F. Bizri is a Consultant on Science, Technology and Innovation for National Development. He is the ex-Chief of the Information and Communication Technology Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and ex-Snior Adviser, Emerging and Conflict-Related Issues (ECRI) Division / Smart Community Initiative, (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA). He has extensive experience in the basic and applied sciences and has, over the past four decades, contributed to the formulation of regional and national science, technology, and innovation policy initiatives in several countries in the region. Since the outbreak of the Arab uprisings, he has been a keen observer of events with particular regard to the role that failures in technology adoption, dissemination, and implementation have had on socioeconomic development, on the one hand, and how certain technologies were instrumental in mobilizing and driving various factions in the region. Read More Read Less