Knowledge Economy

The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) has announced that GE will be a Strategic Sponsor of the sixth Global Competitiveness Forum (GCF) to be held from Jan. 21-24 in Riyadh, under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.

Abdullah Azib, director of the Global Competitiveness Forum, and Walid Abukhaled, GE’s president & Chief Executive Officer for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, signed the partnership agreement. GE is supporting the GCF for the second year.

Walid Abukhaled said: “It is our honor to be a Strategic Partner of the Global Competitiveness Forum. GE’s partnership complements SAGIA’s objectives of promoting entrepreneurship and business competitiveness in the Kingdom. GE is committed to supporting governmental initiatives to achieve its Vision 2020 with a focus on economic diversification and creating a knowledge economy.  To achieve this, the key drivers are innovation and entrepreneurship – both values that GE upholds in our operations in the Kingdom.”   Rest

Knowledge-Based Economy Drives Adult Education

Cable follows Mandelson down the Knowledge Economy route

The Knowledge Economy Triangle: India, Israel, USA

Markets cannot manage a knowledge economy – Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz

Conrad Wolfram on the Computational Knowledge Economy

The Brookings Institution is hosting a program today that is gathering the CEOs of leading U.S. businesses for a series of panels that address job creation, economic competitiveness, and innovations in technology. The program includes state and federal experts who are discussing strategies reaching from local innovation to global competition, and addressing ideas for reducing the budget deficit without undermining strategies to revitalize the economy. Brookings experts are leading discussions on a broad range of strategies for fostering growth and innovation. Following each panel, the participants will take questions from the audience. Participants may follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #BIJobCreation.  Also, the event is being webcast live here

U.S. Secretary of Commerce, John Bryson, just spoke and referenced the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) among other programs. Clearly this partnership, lead by Andrew Liveris, President, Chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical and Susan Hockfield, President of MIT, is a Knowledge Economy partnership. In connection with the Administration (AMP is a part of PCAST) you have government, industry and research universities working together for smart economic growth.

UAE – The National – As 2012 downs, the UAE is on a path to discovery – Dr. Scott Kennedy – The UAE has set itself on a clear course of economic diversification, shifting away from a heavy reliance on fossil fuel production to an economy based on knowledge-intensive manufacturing and services; aspiring to achieve the oft cited goal of creating a “knowledge-based economy“.  As a university professor, I spend much of my time worrying about the development of my students and not entire economies, but in the case of a knowledge-based transition, there may be a fitting analogy; especially with that particular breed of student intent on discovering new knowledge – the graduate student.  Rest

Qatar – Gulf Times – Looking back at Qatar’s economic success story – The year 2011 was record-breaking for the Qatari economy, reaffirming the country’s position as one of the world’s fastest growing economies amid fears of the ongoing European sovereign debt crisis and the US budget deficit.  In 2010 Qatar achieved a 16% growth rate, and is projected to reach 20% growth in 2011 driven by Qatar National Vision 2030 aimed at cultivating a “knowledge-based economy.”  Rest

India – India needs 2 lakh more schools, 1500 varsities – Shantanu Prakash – Educomp’s Shantanu Prakash says education in our country is largely recession free. Excerpts:  How is the education sector in the country as a business proposition ?  India is fast becoming a knowledge economy superpower . A whopping 220 million children are enrolled in schools in the country. But still, 140 million students are left out. The gross enrollment in India at 12% is lower than the Asean countries. According to one estimate, India needs at least 200,000 schools. In higher education segment, the country needs around additional 1,500 universities and colleges.  Rest

Interesting quote from a recent report on knowledge and skills in the UK:

“The total economic worth of knowledge was more than two-and-a-half times the estimated value of UK’s tangible assets – such as buildings, vehicles, plant and machinery – at the beginning of 2010.”   Read more here

Global Arab Network – In what comes as no surprise for a country that used Facebook, Twitter and mobile phones to help overturn a political regime, a recent report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) stated that Egypt “is poised to emerge as a major player in the information economy”, Global Arab Network reports according to OBG.

UNCTAD, which carried out its assessment of Egypt’s information and communications technology (ICT) sector at the request of the government, published its first-ever ICT Policy Review for the country on October 26. Speaking at an event in Geneva to mark the launch of the report, Egypt’s then-interim minister of communications and information technology, Mohamed Salem, said that 2011 heralded “the dawn of a new era for ICT in Egypt, with even more Egyptians joining and embracing the information society as we continue to work to forge a knowledge economy”.  Rest

A NEW consortium that aims to address the poor record of growth and survival among [South Africa’s] small businesses, particularly black-owned start-ups, will be launched early in the new year.  Innovation has often been described as a key measure of economic development. Scientific and innovation-based output is an important part of the Department of Science and Technology’s 10-year innovation plan, which aims to develop SA’s knowledge economy and boost economic competitiveness and job creation.  Rest

UAB already has transformed metro Birmingham. The world-class medical center draws in hundreds of millions of dollars of research money each year to aid its quest to find cures for cancer, AIDS and other diseases.  It is the workplace for more than 21,000. It treats Alabama’s sick and provides a home for art and culture in the city. It is also the lifeline for a region that is struggling, providing the region and the state a key to the new knowledge economy.  Rest

The [new $45M Brown University] medical school has brought some 400 students and 50 faculty members to the Knowledge District. Combined with the jobs promised by Hasbro and 38 Studios, and employees who work for existing companies in the area, new “knowledge economy” jobs in Providence number more than 1,000. To foster more jobs, a group overseeing the growth of the knowledge economy, the Innovation Providence Implementation Council, has awarded $410,000 in seed money to companies, institutions and individuals in the areas of health care, technology, research and design, alternative energy and work force development. The grants are financed by sources including foundations, the chamber and the United States Economic Development Administration.   Full NY Times article

Nunzio Quacquarelli, managing director of the QS World MBA Tour, the team behind a research report released yesterday, says, “Saudi Arabia saw a 21% increase in MBA hiring in 2011, lead by energy companies. The Middle East is expected to become a hot spot for MBA recruiting as economies such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait tries to steer their economies away from a dependency on oil towards becoming knowledge economies.”

Dr Abdulkader Alfantookh, vice-minister of higher education in Saudi Arabia says, “We are still in early stages of becoming a knowledge economy, but Saudi Arabia is investing in scholarships for 40,000 students a year to study undergraduate, masters and MBA degrees overseas, and we expect them to bring their knowledge back to companies within Saudi Arabia.”  Full article

I have the pleasure of attending this forum today and tomorrow and I welcome anyone else attending to stop me and introduce yourself.  Notwithstanding the picture currently posted on the “About” page, I have a beard at the moment.  If you are interested in the Knowledge Economy, we should talk about what we could do together to build this site.  I’m looking forward to meeting you!