TRENDS Research and Advisory has inaugurated its sixth global office in Beijing, China, as part of its global research strategy and to foster knowledge exchange between regional and international think tanks, aiming to produce balanced knowledge, especially in the field of future foresight studies.
The event took place at the TRENDS pavilion at Beijing International Book Fair and was attended by officials, researchers, academics, and exhibition visitors.
Dr. Mohammed Abdullah Al-Ali, CEO of TRENDS Research and Advisory, stated that TRENDS’ pioneering initiative to open a new office in China contributes to enriching the global research landscape and supports international cooperation. He added that the center aims for its virtual office in China to act as a link between the research community in China and the main office in Abu Dhabi, enhancing knowledge, and fostering scientific cooperation.
Dr. Al-Ali explained that the Beijing office includes a select group of specialized researchers and experts who will add significant value to the TRENDS research community. This will enhance the production of balanced research and studies, particularly in strategic studies, supporting TRENDS’ strategy as a global knowledge bridge.
Awadh Al-Breiki, Head of TRENDS Global Sector, stated that the opening of the virtual office in Beijing virtual office marks a commitment to enhancing research and innovation, complementing a series of branch offices supporting the main center in Abu Dhabi. TRENDS has already opened offices in Dubai, Cairo, Rabat, Cape Town, and Montreal. This is part of a plan to establish ten offices worldwide in 2024 to support the center’s objectives as a knowledge bridge connecting people and countries globally.
Two Indicators on the Muslim Brotherhood
In its first activity, the Beijing office launched the Chinese version of the Muslim Brotherhood’s International Power Index (MBIPI), the first of its kind globally. This index aims to measure the group’s influence at various levels across different geographic regions.
Additionally, TRENDS released a report measuring attitudes of social media users globally towards the Muslim Brotherhood in 2023.
Muslim Brotherhood International Power Index
The Muslim Brotherhood International Power Index (MBIPI) 2022-2023 measures the group’s influence at various levels through five key indicators: international organizational influence, political influence, economic influence, media influence, and societal influence.
The index aims to establish specific, measurable indicators of the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence on the international stage, across political, economic, media, societal, and organizational levels, to understand the group’s status regionally and globally.
The significance of the index lies in its scientific, quantitative, and qualitative measurement of the Muslim Brotherhood’s international influence, addressing the growing need for early and clear signals about the group’s current and future influence, facilitating timely policy responses. Additionally, it provides objective answers regarding the group’s ability to achieve its goals and its future prospects.
The index revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence peaked during the so-called Arab Spring, but has been declining since early 2012, reflecting this trend across all political, economic, societal, and media levels in the geographical areas studied, particularly between 2021 and 2023.
Prepared by TRENDS in collaboration with the University of Montreal in Canada and the University Platform for Research on Islam (PLURIEL), the index showed that in 2023, Asia became the region contributing the most to the Brotherhood’s international power. Meanwhile, the group’s power increased in Africa but decreased in the Arab world and Europe.
Measuring Attitudes of Social Media Users
Regarding the measurement of attitudes of social media users towards the Muslim Brotherhood, Fahad Al-Mahri, Senior Researcher and Director of TRENDS Dubai office, stated that TRENDS seeks to counter thought with thought. Throughout 2023, the center’s team focused on measuring attitudes of online users towards the Muslim Brotherhood.
He mentioned that the measurement results showed that during the period from 1 January to 31 December 2023, there was a total of approximately 1.67 million tweets about the Muslim Brotherhood by 26,600 users, with a daily average of 4,560 posts. These posts garnered 6.6 million engagements and 413 million views.
Al-Mahri noted that measurement revealed that anti-Muslim Brotherhood sentiment was clearly dominant at 81.8%, with October witnessing the highest number of mentions of the Muslim Brotherhood due to events in Gaza. Africa was the most supportive continent of the Muslim Brotherhood, followed by South America.
He explained that the measurement found France to be the most vocal country against the Muslim Brotherhood, while Pakistan showed the most support. The results also showed similarities with the real-world status of the group in terms of its geographical strengths and weaknesses and the significant issues surrounding the organization.
Al-Mahri explained that the purpose of the measurement is to identify campaigns by the group, if any, and to identify regions where the group is most active and those in which it enjoys most support, noting that TRENDS researchers and experts collected social media using approved and accurate programs such as Meltwater and Talkwalker.
He pointed out that TRENDS intends to expand the measurement by conducting a field survey and comparing the results with those in the virtual world to gain a clearer picture of the Muslim Brotherhood’s attempts to show that it enjoys strong popular support.
