Knowledge Economy

PM Modi: “I am delighted to address the India-UK Tech Summit 2016. The Tech Summit was envisaged during my visit to the UK in November last year to reinforce the friendship between India and the UK. It also marks the high point commemorating 2016 as the ‘India-UK Year of Education, Research and Innovation’. It is a privilege that Right Honorable Theresa May, the Prime Minister of United Kingdom has joined us at this event. … Today, the world is at an inflection point where technology advancement is transformational. It is vital that India and the United Kingdom, two countries linked by history, work together to define the knowledge economy of the 21st century. Rest

Fareed Zakaria’s GPS on CNN show today featured an interview with President Obama. It was a very interesting interview and you can find the free audio podcast here [I recommend the segment from 8:07 to 8:37]. In discussing the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) treaty, President Obama said:

“And the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a historic agreement cobbled together among a very diverse set of countries. And the basic argument is simple. This is going to be the world’s largest market. And if we’re not setting the rules out there, somebody else is.

And what we have been able to do is not just establish a trade agreement among these countries, because many of them we already have trading agreements with. What this does is it raises the standards for trade so that there is greater protection for labor rights, a greater protection for environmental rights, greater transparency, greater protection for intellectual property, which is so important to a knowledge-based economy like ours.” [rest of the full transcript here]

{“Knowledge-based Economy” in “Facebook” blue in tribute to CEO Mark “I’m pro-knowledge economy” Zuckerberg}

[The Honorable Cho Won-myung, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Brunei Darussalam] “In order to successfully achieve the above-mentioned three (goals) in Vision 2035, we have to move forward in a knowledge-based economy to overcome dilemmas posed by a natural resource-dependent country in the recent economic downfall.”

“Korea’s experiences would be good practice and lessons for Brunei to successfully accomplish a knowledge-based economy in Vision 2035 through promoting ICT industry and implementing ICT programmes.” Rest

It appears that both the federal and state governments are beginning to realise that the knowledge economy stands a better chance of lifting the Nigerian economy again rather than the oil windfall.

This is considering the investments the federal government and some of its state counterparts are committing to intellectual property, IP and innovative knowledge hubs in recent times.

National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA,has made different investments ranging from training the youths on IT innovation, building capacity, to supporting tech start-ups on software or mobile application development.

However, the federal government had come out to categorically state that it was going to build innovation centres, at least one in each geo-political zone. Minister of Communications Technology, Mr. Adebayo Shittu recently reiterated government’s willingness to engender a pervasive ICT knowledge among the youths across the country, arguing that the best and easiest way to go about it was to scatter knowledge factories everywhere in the country. “Our policies are geared towards using Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) as a catalyst for innovation in every sector of the economy. Rest

The Knowledge Economy takes another big step forward with Smart Manufacturing.

President Obama recently announced that the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC) will lead the new Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute, in partnership with the Department of Energy. The winning coalition, headquartered in Los Angeles, California brings together a consortium of nearly 200 partners from across academia, industry, and non-profits—hailing from more than thirty states—to spur advances in smart sensors and digital process controls that can radically improve the efficiency of U.S. advanced manufacturing.

White House Fact Sheet

Jo Johnson MP, the minister for universities and science, said: “Our membership of the EU plays a big part in supporting our success as a knowledge economy, not only in terms of funding, but also in terms of valuable academic collaborations and access to shared research facilities.

“Britain is an innovation powerhouse and we must do everything we can to maintain that position. As this new data shows, the EU helps to facilitate ground-breaking research, create jobs and strengthen our position as a global innovation leader.” Rest

Many women entrepreneurs in Europe are careful in taking risks. They are reluctant to display the ‘boldness’ of their male competitors. Another interesting phenomenon is that women entrepreneurs in industrialized countries are more likely to be part-time entrepreneurs than men are. In the Netherlands for example, that is two in three women entrepreneurs.

Of course, if this is a personal, deliberate choice, it is absolutely fine. But women should never let social norms, modesty and lack of self-confidence stand in their way!

In reality, there is no need for self-doubt.

The level of education of Dutch women entrepreneurs is actually higher than that of men entrepreneurs. It is also higher than the average in the European Union. If our knowledge economy was a vehicle, a woman would be in the driver’s seat!

So my message to them is: rev up the engine. You can do it! Believe in yourself and in your business! Rest

INCREASED EMPLOYABILITY AND IMPROVED TEACHING WILL PROVIDE A BOOST TO THE BRITISH ECONOMY AND HELP BUSINESSES PUSH THEMSELVES TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Jermaine Haughton

Employers may in future have access to better prepared graduates, as the government’s new plans, announced in today’s Queen’s speech, propose incentivising universities to boost students’ employability skills, as well as allowing private organisations to award their own degrees.

Improvements in teaching quality are at the heart of the proposals. The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), introduced by this Conservative government, will monitor and assess different aspects of university teaching, including student experience and the job prospects of graduates. Rest

For further information, click here to access the Department for Business Innovation & Skills white paper.

SC: FOCUS: What the heck is DIG SOUTH?

Digital economy jobs pay much higher average wages than manufacturing and service industry jobs. It follows that if we want to earn competitive wages in the global marketplace and be able to do so from the South, and if we want that capital to largely remain in the region, we must focus on creating, incubating and attracting knowledge economy companies to headquarter here. It’s a guarantee that most of the new wealth generated in the U.S. this century will flow to scalable software companies. Rest

UAE: Huawei sees youth as “KE” to transformation to a knowledge economy

Huawei also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CUD today, extending its long-term commitment to the university as it brings its global expertise in innovation to empower students.

“Huawei is committed to the vision of His highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to drive innovation and entrepreneurship across all sectors in the UAE,” said David Wang, CEO of Huawei UAE. “The UAE continues to build on its commercial success and take steps to become a global information center and a knowledge-based economy. Our partnership with the Canadian University Dubai confirms our support to the youth of the UAE who we see as the enablers of this national strategy.” Rest

Africa: Malnutrition — it’s the economy, stupid!

[African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina] “So it’s very important for us in Africa to take decisive action to end it, because it has significant implications for the future workforce in Africa. And as you move into the knowledge economy, you can repair a bridge, you can repair a road, you can repair a port. You can’t repair a brain. This is very critical. So that’s why we are working together to launch the African Leaders for Nutrition.” Rest

Africa: Radio Astronomy in Africa – Mauritius Signs SKA MoU

This scientific project will consist of the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope, about 50 times more sensitive, and up to 10 000 faster (in terms of its survey speed) than the best radio telescopes of today. It is expected to have a significant impact on Africa’s drive towards a knowledge economy, wherein information flow is supercritical and underpins the character of a knowledge economy.

Eleven countries, represented by their local research organisations, are current members (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom). Rest

UK: Support UK tech or face economic “doom”

Neil Woodford, known for being the UK’s most successful investor, says backing our world-class science is crucial for the UK to hold its position as a centre of technological innovation. Having a thriving “knowledge economy” will allow the UK to compete with other global heavyw­­eights.

“We are failing as an economy to capture [the opportunity in science] and if we fail to capture that the economy is doomed,” Woodford says.

“The critical part of the jigsaw is that early-stage science is what the UK economy does very well. And if the economy is going to succeed in the future we have to make the knowledge economy work,” he added. Rest

Pakistan: ‘Govt paying special attention to strengthen research institutions’

[LCCI SVP Almas Hyder] “Pakistan has is yet to be placed at some respectable position in the innovation index because of low end production of cheap goods and inefficient energy consumption ratio. Even after more than six decades of its creation, Pakistan still remains to be a producer of primary commodities. In view of current resource constraint, there is a need to utilise existing resources optimally through reorganising our research and development infrastructure and moving towards knowledge economy to rectify the dismal situation,” he suggested. Rest