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.”