Roberto Unger, Isaac Stanley, Madeleine Gabriel, & Geoff Mulgan

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High-tech, creative, ‘knowledge’ businesses drive growth, but most people and places are cut off from the knowledge economy. How can we open it up?

If economic eras are defined by their most advanced form of production, then we live in a knowledge economy – one where knowledge plays a decisive role in the organisation of production, distribution and consumption.

The era of Fordist mass production that preceded it transformed almost every part of the economy. But the knowledge economy hasn’t spread in the same way. Only some people and places are reaping the benefits.

This is a big problem: it contributes to inequality, stagnation and political alienation. And traditional policy solutions are not sufficient to tackle it. We can’t expect benefits simply to trickle down to the rest of the population, and redistribution alone will not solve the inequalities we are facing.

What’s the alternative? Nesta has been working with Roberto Mangabeira Unger to convene discussions with politicians, researchers, and activists from member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, to explore policy options for an inclusive knowledge economy. This report presents the results of that collaboration.

We argue that an inclusive knowledge economy requires action to democratise the economy – widening access to capital and productive opportunity, transforming models of ownership, addressing new concentrations of power, and democratising the direction of innovation.

It demands that we establish a social inheritance by reforming education and social security.

And it requires us to create a high-energy democracy, promoting experimental government, and independent and empowered civil society.  REST

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I’m looking forward to attending the 5th Knowledge Summit being organized by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF). I’ll be a little better dressed than in this recent picture my wife took at Yosemite National Park, and I hope to meet as many fellow attendees as possible. We are all interested in “Youth and the Future of the Knowledge Economy” and we need to find new ways to work together “to help build the knowledge economy” [a long-term goal set by Mark Zuckerberg in 2013 around the time Facebook grew to over a billion users. Long-term was described as 5 to 12 years or what would be 2018 to 2025].

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation, MBRF, has unveiled the theme for its upcoming Knowledge Summit 2018, the prominent annual event bringing together decision makers, academics and experts from around the world to discuss the production and dissemination of knowledge.

The fifth edition of the annual Summit is set to take place on 5th and 6th December 2018, bearing the theme ‘Youth and the Future of the Knowledge Economy’. The event is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of MBRF.

The 2018 Summit is in line with the objectives of the UAE Vision 2021 to build a competitive economy that promotes investments in knowledge, supports creativity and innovation, and embraces advanced technologies to improve people’s wellbeing and empower a generation of entrepreneurs.

… The Knowledge Summit 2018 will host various discussions covering the knowledge economy rooted in human capital; the digital economy; and the Islamic economy and its role within the knowledge economy. Topics will also include the youth’s role in building these knowledge economies, as well as human capital and its function as a cornerstone for holistic and sustainable development.

Full release

At Bloomberg Businessweek, Craig Torres and Catarina Saraiva describe how Greenville, South Carolina has managed to attract highly skilled workers and revive its downtown by building its tech economy. Greenville has a network of investors, a culture of risk-taking, proximity to a research university, and has long made itself attractive to educated college graduates. They have to in order to compete with big tech employers in big cities on both coasts. The question other small Southern cities are asking is whether they can replicate Greenville’s success. Bloomberg Businessweek article – The New Startup South

This city of 670,000, a onetime hub for textile and apparel production, seems to have found the answer to the question confounding the U.S. right now: How do you revive postindustrial towns and make them part of the knowledge economy?

Displaced factory workers were receptive to Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” message during the 2016 election campaign. Yet the president’s policy prescription of lower taxes, higher tariffs, and fewer immigrants is untested, while Greenville’s leaders can rightly claim they have a success on their hands. In per capita terms, the city’s rate of new business creation approaches that of Boston, one of the country’s hotbeds of innovation. Here’s another marker of economic dynamism: Greenville’s population grew almost 20 percent from 2000 to 2016.

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UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Chief Executive Professor Sir Mark Walport said: “UKRI is supporting the UK’s world-leading knowledge-driven economy by working collaboratively with researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs to develop the most exciting ideas and technologies and bring them to fruition. The Higgs Centre for Innovation is a perfect example of this. It creates a collaborative environment where young companies will work alongside world-class scientists and engineers to fuel innovation and rapidly harness the commercial potential of big data and space-related technologies.”  Full post

Foreword

UK Research and Innovation will play a fundamental role in ensuring the UK is able to meet the unprecedented societal and industrial challenges that we face both locally and internationally.

[From the Foreword] The UK is globally recognised as a world leading knowledge economy. It is vital that we maintain and capitalise on this status at this time of global demographic, technological, and geopolitical change. Recognising these challenges, the Government has positioned research and innovation at the heart of its Industrial Strategy. The Government has committed an additional £7 billion by 2021/22 and set an ambitious target to increase expenditure on research and development (R&D) to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

[from the last page] UK Research and Innovation is a new organisation, but the building blocks that have come together to create it – our councils – are world renowned. We are proud of the trust placed in our organisation to help deliver the Industrial Strategy and create a forward-looking knowledge economy that will power our nation in the 21st century.  [Ed: The complete Report can be found here]

COMMENT: As our world becomes increasingly automated, knowledge remains among the key drivers of urban prosperity. While digitisation means that we can interact with each other anywhere, anytime, physical location and proximity to other like-minded people are critical for sharing ideas and inspiration, writes Juliette Morgan, British Land’s head of campus at Regent’s Place.

The importance of collaboration as the prerequisite for innovation means that buildings and spaces must become more flexible to allow both continuity and changing uses over time.

London is in prime position to benefit from the strength of the knowledge economy – it has long been recognised as a global centre for higher education and a hub for science and technology, with research and development expenditure estimated to be at £3.7bn per year.  Rest

Muscat University | Public Lecture Series

The Honorable Dr. Sheikh Al Khattab bin Ghalib Al Hinai – Vice Chairman, State Council

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