Knowledge Economy

The Commerce Ministry is pressing ahead with its efforts to build mobile applications which will offer all stakeholders, including exporters and importers, all the relevant information and notifications on their smart phones. … The move is also part of the steps the government is taking to improve India’s ranking in ease of doing business index here. The government has announced an umbrella programme ‘Digital India’ comprising various projects worth about Rs 1 lakh crore [~US$16B] to transform the country into a digitally empowered knowledge economy. The programme includes projects that aim to ensure government services are available to citizens electronically and people get benefit of the latest information and communication technology. The vision of the government under the Digital India project includes creation of ICT infrastructure like high-speed Internet at gram panchayat level and on-demand availability of government services like health and education. Link

Clemson University just recently honored chairman emeritus of India’s Tata Motors Ratan Tata with an honorary Doctorate of Automotive Engineering at the S.C. Automotive Summit. … Frederick Cartwright, executive director of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) is proud to have this relationship with Tata and honored by his interest in Clemson University and CU-ICAR. “Mr. Tata epitomizes all that CU-ICAR stands for: international leadership in the advancement of the automotive industry and the fostering of economic development that benefits the local community, state and region,” he said.  Link

A few years ago the London School of Economics (LSE) also awarded him an honorary fellowship: “Professor Lord Desai, of LSE’s Centre for the Study of Global Governance, … said: ‘We honour Ratan Tata for his manifold achievements in the fields of entrepreneurship, industrial leadership, building up the knowledge economy in India and, in the larger international context, his work for charity and his humanity. Tata is an iconic name in India and now, thanks to Ratan Tata’s efforts, around the world. He took over Tata Sons and has enhanced the efficiency and economic influence of that century-old firm by innovations and managerial reforms, while continuing to build on the Tata tradition of investing in education.'”  Link

Asia Education Summit 2015_ Making India A ‘Knowledge Economy’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqIN8-NFsl4

Kingdom top patents holder in Arab world

The Kingdom has the most patents registered globally in the Arab world, followed by Kuwait with 14 percent and Egypt 12 percent, said Mohammed Al-Jasser, minister of economy and planning, recently.

During the University Invents conference launched by Crown Prince Muqrin, deputy premier, at King Saud University, he said: “We are proud of the Kingdom’s achievements in innovation.”

Al-Jasser said that King Saud University was playing a major role in helping the ministry prepare a strategy to transform the country into a knowledge economy.  Link

An opportune time for new think tanks in Saudi Arabia

Immediately, this government [of King Salman] will be faced with the need to accelerate the transition to a knowledge economy, an aim that is vital to its far-reaching goal of economic diversification beyond oil. This transformation is also a critical adaptation to the processes of structural changes in the global economy based on accelerating flows of information, knowledge, capital, and people across state boundaries. …

Among the G20 countries, the Kingdom ranks last in the total number of think tanks and the second lowest behind India in the number of citizens per think-tank. Another benchmark, the authoritative Global Go-To Think Tank Report (2014), only records 7 Saudi think tanks compared with 39 in Tunisia, 14 in the UAE and 29 in Turkey. Only one Saudi-based think tank, the Gulf Research Center, featured in the ranking of the top 150 think-tanks worldwide. …

Think tanks therefore can play a pivotal role in supporting the Kingdom’s transition to knowledge economy. The new wave of think tanks will contribute to the processes of innovation in three overarching ways: directing the production of knowledge, functioning as a bridge of ideas, and serving as a connector of talent. These three functions are connected to a fourth function of think tanks, namely one being an enabler of government in devising innovative approaches to raising government performance and service delivery. …

A third function of think tanks in Saudi Arabia is that they can equip the younger generation of highly qualified Saudi graduates with policy-relevant experience and leadership training. Programs such as the King Abdullah Scholarship Program and others are transforming the nature of the Saudi workforce and creating a large pool of emerging leaders who will spearhead the ongoing transformation of the Kingdom into a knowledge economy.  Link

Africa Needs IP Protection to Build Knowledge Economies

The next generation of African entrepreneurs and scientists need support to protect their ideas, says Paul Boateng.  Link … Lord Boateng is currently the cochair of the African IP Trust and trustee of the Planet Earth Institute, an NGO working to support science, technology and innovation in Africa. He can be contacted at planetearth@planetearthinstitute.org.uk.  This opinion was commissioned to accompany a two hour online live debate on Africa’s knowledge economy that SciDev.Net will be hosting on the 24th of April from 1300 to 1500 British Summer Time (GMT+1). The debate staged in conjunction with the Planet Earth Institute will explore some of the myths, risks and rhetoric surrounding Africa’s knowledge economy.

4K is beneficial to poor children

While the 4K program has a ways to go to ensuring high-quality experiences for every child who is participating, we wholeheartedly endorse the approach: South Carolina is leading the way in building a high-quality, mixed public-private delivery mechanism that ensures high-quality early experiences for our most vulnerable children.

This is absolutely the most important investment we can make to ensure that all children in South Carolina have the skills and resources they need to join a competitive workforce in a global, knowledge-based economy.  Link

For universities, EU membership matters

Collaboration amongst the universities of the EU is crucial to drive research and continue the continent’s tradition as a knowledge economy, argues Nicola Dandridge [Chief Executive of Universities UK]. To safeguard this, the EU must protect its Horizon 2020 funding and the UK must embrace the EU. … The EU is the largest knowledge economy in the world and being part of the EU enables our universities to enhance their visibility, influence and attractiveness in the increasingly competitive global marketplace for research contracts, international students and staff.  Link

Protect and prioritise Horizon 2020 funding

Cutting grant funding for this activity by €2.7bn is a short-sighted step that fails to recognise the importance of research to the European knowledge economy. While the European Commission argues that the diverted funding will continue to support science and innovation objectives through debt financing via the European Investment Bank, this fails to recognise that debt financing is not an appropriate mechanism for the funding of research, where the majority of the transformational discoveries are born of high-risk, blue-sky projects with no direct market application.  Link

Linking up with partners is key to building a knowledge economy

Collaborations between private, public and academic organisations bolster the development of technology-based innovations. They are the foundation of the knowledge economy. That is why the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology is involved in cross-sector collaborations, the most notable of which is with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Link

Abu Dhabi TDC & Emirates Development Bank Partner to support UAE inventors

On this occasion, H.E Ahmed Saeed Al Calily, Director General of Abu Dhabi Technology Development Committee said: “The continuous development of human capital in Science and Technology sectors and the deployment of tools to support innovation are at the foundation of a knowledge-based economy. As we develop initiatives in this area, it is imperative to identify and work alongside the right partners, such as EDB, to jointly provide the support needed by UAE individuals, academia and companies to develop new capabilities and innovate. This in turn supports the realization of Abu Dhabi’s economic vision 2030 and will aid the UAE’s ambition to become one of the most innovative nations in the world.” Link

Internet Of Everything To Drive Dubai’s Smart Economy

Dubai Smart City covers three tracks – Smart Economy, Smart Life, and Smart Tourism. The Higher Committee for Smart Dubai defines the Smart Economy as smart companies and port services, smart stock exchanges, and industries that support the knowledge-based economy.  Link

Spain’s ‘Citizens’ party fires up voters

[Alberto] Rivera and his economic guru Luis Garicano from the London School of Economics this week promised a new model based on innovation and the knowledge economy.  Link

Nigeria: What Buhari Must Do to Move Nigerian Economy Forward

What has been lacking in previous administrations in Nigeria is that the populace has not been sufficiently mobilised and the Federal Government has not gotten the support of the ordinary Nigerian to buy into government programmes and projects. This has been the bane of the economy as those who felt alienated look for ways to sabotage the system. This government needs the support of every Nigerian for it to embark on economic revival. Across the globe, knowledge economy has put nations in higher pedestal than natural resources endowment.  Link

Iran’s opportunity to move to a Knowledge Economy

In relevant remarks in March, [Vice-President for Science and Technology Sorena] Sattari underscored the necessity for paying special attention to the development of knowledge-based economy in Iran. “Today we should move toward changing the old approach towards research, a kind of approach which has been created based on reliance on oil revenues and has influenced research environment of the country,” Sattari said. Changing the old habits needs firm determination for moving toward innovation by Iranian enterprises because reliance on mere oil revenues in research and technology has led to creation of luxurious but inefficient infrastructures in the country and that is why we should leave behind a kind of culture which is based on dependence on oil economy, the official added. He said expertise and skilled human resources make up the back bone of knowledge-based economy, adding today the country faces a big and exceptional opportunity to move toward materialization of knowledge-based economy and distance itself from oil-dependent economy.  Link

It is my guess that SC Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt and GSV (Global Silicon Valley) Capital’s Michael Moe have not yet met each other, but it is clear they each understand the importance of the knowledge economy.

Bobby Hitt spoke at the SC Summit on Information Technology a couple of days ago and here is how he started his weekly e-mail today:

“In his 1999 book, Business at the Speed of Thought, Bill Gates wrote, “Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven.” At the time that book was published, less than 45% of Americans used the internet. Today, that figure has ballooned to more than 85%, making Gates’ statement even more profound. Technology, like business, doesn’t sit still; both are constantly changing and evolving. To be successful in South Carolina, it’s not enough just to adapt to the changing business and technological environments; we must promote them and foster a robust knowledge economy that enables entrepreneurship and technology-based economic development in our state.”  Link

Earlier this week Michael Moe and colleagues posted a well researched and important article at GSVTomorrow.com entitled “DIVERSIFY HUMAN CAPITAL PORTFOLIO TO OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE.” They ended the article with a reference to Sallie Krawcheck’s Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Index Fund and the following paragraph:

“In a Knowledge Economy, the Wealth of a Nation is determined by its Human Capital, as opposed to Physical Capital, which was critical to Industrial Economies in days gone by. To optimize our country’s potential, we need to get full participation from everyone, regardless of race, gender or how wealthy their parents are. That’s our challenge and that’s our opportunity.” Link

Also, GSV partners with Arizona State University (ASU) [see immediately preceding post as well] to annually host a very significant conference called The ASU+GSV Summit (asugsvsummit.com). If you scroll to the bottom of the home page you reach the one sentence description of the conference: “The ASU+GSV Summit is the Knowledge Economy’s Mecca of conversation and activism devoted to accelerating learning innovation around the world.”

Designing the New American University

Delineating the correlates of educational attainment has in fact been one of the objectives of my new book, coauthored with William Dabars, which presents a new and complementary model for the American research university. Designing the New American University (Johns Hopkins University Press) argues that the set of major research universities uniquely offers academic platforms that combine discovery and knowledge production with programs of undergraduate and graduate education that enable competitiveness in the knowledge economy. Instead of the intensely selective admissions process that excludes the majority of qualified applicants, the New American University model that I envisioned when I left Columbia University for Arizona State offers broad accessibility to an academic platform of discovery and knowledge production as well as societal impact.  Link

Why Some U.K. Cities Thrive While Others Decline

An office building goes up in Reading, a British city that has seen great growth in knowledge economy jobs since 1911. (Flickr/Tristram Brelstaff)

… The report offers three broad recommendations for how metros—and in particular older, struggling industrial metros—can better adapt to the post-industrial knowledge economy.

Invest in talent and skills

The report highlights the central role played by talent, human capital and skills. The knowledge economy is powered not just by the clustering of firms per se, but by the clustering of talented, highly-skilled workers. This is key to business location and development.  Link

Africa Urged to Embrace ICTs

African economies can fully derive maximum value from their resources if they embrace the use of information technology, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda has said. Speaking during the launch of Twenty Third Century Systems’ Africa Graduate Trainee Programme in Harare yesterday, Dr Sibanda said the world was in the era of “knowledge economy” that is characterised by the pervasive influence of ICTs.  Link

Meetings Africa 2015: Conventions Will Be Key to a Balanced Economy

Late last month in Johannesburg, Derek Hanekom, the new South African Minister of Tourism, officially opened  the 10th edition of Meetings Africa, the continental showpiece that “Advances Africa Together,” with the announcement that his country has already attracted 177 major international association meetings slated for the next five years. But much as the R3.5billion [about US$285M] tourism impact resulting from 250,000 delegates attending these events will be welcome, the contribution to Africa’s knowledge economy will be far more important.  Link

South Africa as a continental PhD hub?

Internationally, the importance of the doctorate has grown. Heightened attention has not been predominantly concerned with the traditional role of the PhD – providing a future supply of academics – but has focused on the increasingly important role higher education is perceived to play in the knowledge economy, specifically with regard to high-level skills.  Link