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The knowledge economy, or knowledge-based economy, is an economic system in which the production of goods and services is based principally on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to advancement in technical and scientific innovation. [1] The key element of value is the greater dependence on human capital and intellectual property as the source of innovative ideas, information, and practices. Organisations are required to capitalise on this "knowledge" in their production to stimulate and deepen the business development process. There is less reliance on physical input and natural resources. A knowledge-based economy relies on the crucial role of intangible assets within the organisations' settings in facilitating modern economic growth. [2]
A knowledge economy features a highly skilled workforce within the microeconomic and macroeconomic environment; institutions and industries create jobs that demand specialized skills to meet the needs of the global market. [3] Knowledge is viewed as an additional input to labour, and capital. [4] In principle, one's primary individual capital is knowledge together with the ability to perform to create economic value. [3]
In a knowledge economy, highly skilled jobs require excellent technical skills and relational skills [5] such as problem-solving, the flexibility to interface with multiple discipline areas as well as the ability to adapt to changes as opposed to moving or crafting physical objects in conventional manufacturing-based economies. [6] [7] A knowledge economy stands in contrast to an agrarian economy, in which the primary economic activity is subsistence farming for which the main requirement is manual labour [8] or an industrialized economy that features mass production in which most of the workers are relatively unskilled. [9]
A knowledge economy emphasizes the importance of skills in a service economy, the third phase of economic development also called a post-industrial economy. It is related to an information economy, which emphasizes the importance of information as non-physical capital, and a digital economy, which emphasizes the degree to which information technology facilitates trade. For companies, intellectual property such as trade secrets, copyrighted material, and patented processes become more valuable in a knowledge economy than in earlier eras. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
The global economy's transition to a knowledge economy [15] [16] [1] [17] [18] [19] [20] is also referred to as the Information Age, bringing about an information society. [21] The term knowledge economy was made famous by Peter Drucker as the title of Chapter 12 in his book The Age of Discontinuity (1969), which Drucker attributed to economist Fritz Machlup, originating in the idea of scientific management developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor. [22]
In a knowledge economy, human intelligence is the key engine of economic development. It is an economy where members acquire, create, disseminate and apply knowledge to facilitate economic and social development. [23] [24]
An economic system that is not knowledge-based is considered to be inconceivable. [25] It describes the process of consumption and production activities that are satisfied from the application of workers' expertise - intellectual capital and typically represents a significant level of individual economic activities in modern developed economies through building an interconnected and advanced global economy where sources of knowledge are the critical contributors. [26]
The present concept of "knowledge" originates from the historical and philosophical studies by Gilbert Ryle [27] and Israel Scheffler [28] , who conducted knowledge to the terms "procedural knowledge" and "conceptual Knowledge" and identified two types of skills: "routine competencies or facilities" and "critical skills" that is intelligent performance; and it's further elaborated by Lundvall and Johnson [29] who defined "knowledge" as falling in four broad categories:
The World Bank has spoken of knowledge economies by associating it with a four-pillar framework that analyses the rationales of human capital-based economies:
The advancement of a knowledge-based economy occurred when global economies promote changes in material production, together with the creation of rich mechanisms of economic theories after the Second World War that tend to integrate science, technology and the economy. [30]
Peter Drucker discussed the knowledge economy in the book The Effective Executive 1966, [22] [31] where he described the difference between the manual workers and the knowledge workers. The manual worker is the one who works with their own hands and produces goods and services. In contrast, the knowledge worker works with their head rather than hands and produces ideas, knowledge, and information.
Definitions around "knowledge" are considered to be vague in terms of the formalization and modeling of a knowledge economy, as it is rather a relative concept. For example, there is no sufficient evidence and consideration for whether the "information society" could serve or act as the "knowledge society" interchangeably. Information in general, is not equivalent to knowledge. Their use depends on the individual and group's preferences which are "economy-dependent". [32] Information and knowledge together are production resources that can exist without interacting with other sources. Resources are highly independent of each other in the sense that if they connect with other available resources, they transfer into factors of production immediately, and production factors are present only to interact with other factors. Knowledge associated with intellectual information then is said to be a production factor in the new economy that is distinguished from traditional production factors. [23]
From the early days of economic studies, though economists recognised the essential link between knowledge and economic growth, knowledge was still identified only as a supplemental element in economic factors. The idea behind it has transformed recently when new growth theory praised knowledge and technology in enhancing productivity and economic advancement. [13] [14] [25] [23] [30] [33]
The developed society has transitioned from an agriculture-based economy, that is, the pre-industrial age where economy and wealth were primarily based upon agriculture, to an industrial economy where the manufacturing sector was booming. In the mid-1900s, world economies moved towards a post-industrial or mass production system, where they were driven by the service sector that creates greater wealth versus manufacturing; to the late 1900s - 2000s, knowledge economy emerged with the highlights of the power of knowledge and human capital sector, and it's now marked as the latest stage of development in global economic restructuring. [10] [33] In the final decades of 20th century, the knowledge economy became greatly associated with sectors based in research-intensive and high-technology industries as a result of the steadily increased demand for sophisticated science-based innovations. [30] The knowledge economy operates differently from the past as it has been identified by the upheavals (sometimes referred to as the knowledge revolution) in technological innovations and the globally competitive need for differentiation with new goods and services, and processes that develop from the research community (i.e., R&D factors, universities, labs, educational institutes). [14] [34] Thomas A. Stewart points out that just as the Industrial Revolution did not end agriculture because people have to eat, the Knowledge Revolution is unlikely to end manufacturing industries because of ongoing societal demands for physical goods and services. [35]
For the modern knowledge economies, especially in developed countries, information, and knowledge have always taken on enormous importance in the development of either traditional or industrial economies, particularly with the efficient use of factors of production. Owners of production factors should possess and master information and knowledge so as to apply them to economic activity. [23] In the knowledge economy, the specialised labor force is characterised as computer literate and well-trained in handling data, developing algorithms and simulated models, and innovating on processes and systems. [34] [36] Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter asserts that today's economy is far more dynamic and that the conventional notion of comparative advantages within a company has changed and is less relevant than the prevailing idea of competitive advantages which rests on "making more productive use of inputs, which requires continual innovation". [37] Therefore, the technical STEM careers, including computer scientists, engineers, chemists, biologists, mathematicians, and scientific inventors will continue to see demand. Porter further argues that well-situated clusters (that is, geographic concentrations of interconnected companies and institutions in a particular field) are vital with global economies, connect locally and globally with linked industries, manufacturers, and other entities that are related by skills, technologies, and other common inputs. Knowledge is the catalyst and connective tissue in modern economies. [37] Ruggles and Holtshouse argue the change is characterised by a dispersion of power and by managers who lead by empowering knowledge workers to contribute and make decisions. [38]
With Earth's depleting natural resources, the need for green infrastructure, a logistics industry forced into just-in-time deliveries, growing global demand, regulatory policy governed by performance results, and a host of other items place a high priority on knowledge, and research becomes paramount. Knowledge provides the technical expertise, problem-solving, performance measurement and evaluation, and data management needed for today's competition's transboundary, interdisciplinary global scale. [39]
Prevailing and future economic development will be highly dominated by technology and network expansion, in particular on knowledge-based social entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship as a whole. The knowledge economy is incorporating the network economy, where the relatively localised knowledge is now being shared among and across various networks for the benefit of all network members, to gain economies of scale in a wider, more open scale. [23] [40] [33]
The rapid globalisation of economic activities is one of the main determinants of the emerging knowledge economy. While there are no doubts on the other stages of relative openness in the global economy, the prevailing pace and intensity of globalisation are without precedent. [10] [13] Fundamental microeconomic forces are the significant drivers of globalizing economic activities and further demands for human intelligence. These forces include the rapid integration of the world's financial and capital markets since the early 1980s, which influences essentially each level of the developed country's financial and economic systems; increased multinational origin of the inputs to productions of both goods and services, technology transfers and information flow. [2] [3] [10] [14] [25] [36]
Worldwide examples congregate around regions or cities with high concentrations of talented human capital and are often accompanied with High tech-oriented companies as well as innovation hubs. [41] The knowledge economic hubs include information technology in Silicon Valley, United States; water and agricultural technology in Silicon Wadi, Israel; [42] aerospace and automotive engineering in Munich, Germany; biotechnology in Hyderabad, India; electronics and digital media in Seoul, South Korea; petrochemical and the renewable energy industry in Brazil. [43] Many other cities and regions try to follow a knowledge-driven development paradigm and increase their knowledge base by investing in higher education and research institutions to attract highly skilled labour and better position themselves in the global competition. [44] Yet, despite digital tools democratising access to knowledge, research shows that knowledge economy activities remain as concentrated as ever in traditional economic cores. [45]
The technology requirements for a national innovation system, as described by the World Bank Institute, must be able to disseminate a unified process by which a working method may converge scientific and technology solutions and organizational solutions. [46] According to the World Bank Institute's definition, such innovation would further enable the World Bank Institute's vision outlined in its Millennium Development Goals.
The United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development report (UNCSTD, 1997) concluded that for developing countries to integrate ICTs successfully and sustainable development to participate in the knowledge economy, they need to intervene collectively and strategically. [47] Suggested collective intervention includes the development of effective national ICT policies that support the new regulatory framework, promote the selected knowledge production, and use of ICTs and harness their organizational changes to be in line with the Millennium Development Goals. The report further suggests that developing countries develop the required ICT strategies and policies for institutions and regulations, considering the need to be responsive to the issues of convergence.
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ignored (help)CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Human capital or human assets is a concept used by economists to designate personal attributes considered useful in the production process. It encompasses employee knowledge, skills, know-how, good health, and education. Human capital has a substantial impact on individual earnings. Research indicates that human capital investments have high economic returns throughout childhood and young adulthood.
In political philosophy, the means of production refers to the generally necessary assets and resources that enable a society to engage in production. While the exact resources encompassed in the term may vary, it is widely agreed to include the classical factors of production as well as the general infrastructure and capital goods necessary to reproduce stable levels of productivity. It can also be used as an abbreviation of the "means of production and distribution" which additionally includes the logistical distribution and delivery of products, generally through distributors; or as an abbreviation of the "means of production, distribution, and exchange" which further includes the exchange of distributed products, generally to consumers.
Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of increase in the real and nominal gross domestic product (GDP).
Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity, realizing or redistributing value". Others have different definitions; a common element in the definitions is a focus on newness, improvement, and spread of ideas or technologies.
An information society is a society or subculture where the usage, creation, distribution, manipulation and integration of information is a significant activity. Its main drivers are information and communication technologies, which have resulted in rapid growth of a variety of forms of information. Proponents of this theory posit that these technologies are impacting most important forms of social organization, including education, economy, health, government, warfare, and levels of democracy. The people who are able to partake in this form of society are sometimes called either computer users or even digital citizens, defined by K. Mossberger as “Those who use the Internet regularly and effectively”. This is one of many dozen internet terms that have been identified to suggest that humans are entering a new and different phase of society.
In sociology, an industrial society is a society driven by the use of technology and machinery to enable mass production, supporting a large population with a high capacity for division of labour. Such a structure developed in the Western world in the period of time following the Industrial Revolution, and replaced the agrarian societies of the pre-modern, pre-industrial age. Industrial societies are generally mass societies, and may be succeeded by an information society. They are often contrasted with traditional societies.
Endogenous growth theory holds that economic growth is primarily the result of endogenous and not external forces. Endogenous growth theory holds that investment in human capital, innovation, and knowledge are significant contributors to economic growth. The theory also focuses on positive externalities and spillover effects of a knowledge-based economy which will lead to economic development. The endogenous growth theory primarily holds that the long run growth rate of an economy depends on policy measures. For example, subsidies for research and development or education increase the growth rate in some endogenous growth models by increasing the incentive for innovation.
Technocapitalism or tech-capitalism refers to changes in capitalism associated with the emergence of new technology sectors, the power of corporations, and new forms of organization. Technocapitalism is characterised by constant technological innovation, global competition, the digitisation of information and communication, and the growing importance of digital networks and platforms.
The creative industries refers to a range of economic activities which are concerned with the generation or exploitation of knowledge and information. They may variously also be referred to as the cultural industries or the creative economy, and most recently they have been denominated as the Orange Economy in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Knowledge workers are workers whose main capital is knowledge. Examples include ICT professionals, physicians, pharmacists, architects, engineers, scientists, design thinkers, public accountants, lawyers, editors, and academics, whose job is to "think for a living".
Post-capitalism is in part a hypothetical state in which the economic systems of the world can no longer be described as forms of capitalism. Various individuals and political ideologies have speculated on what would define such a world. According to classical Marxist and social evolutionary theories, post-capitalist societies may come about as a result of spontaneous evolution as capitalism becomes obsolete. Others propose models to intentionally replace capitalism, most notably socialism, communism, anarchism, nationalism and degrowth.
A business cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular field. Clusters are considered to increase the productivity with which companies can compete, nationally and globally. Accounting is a part of the business cluster. In urban studies, the term agglomeration is used. Clusters are also important aspects of strategic management.
Zoltan J. Acs is an American economist. He is Professor of Management at The London School of Economics (LSE), and a professor at George Mason University, where he teaches in the Schar School of Policy and Government and is the Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Public Policy. He is also a visiting professor at Imperial College Business School in London and affiliated with the University of Pecs in Hungary. He is co-editor and founder of Small Business Economics.
In economics, deskilling is the process by which skilled labor within an industry or economy is eliminated by the introduction of technologies operated by semi- or unskilled workers. This results in cost savings due to lower investment in human capital, and reduces barriers to entry, weakening the bargaining power of the human capital. Deskilling is the decline in working positions through the machinery or technology introduced to separate workers from the production process.
Innovation economics is new, and growing field of economic theory and applied/experimental economics that emphasizes innovation and entrepreneurship. It comprises both the application of any type of innovations, especially technological, but not only, into economic use. In classical economics this is the application of customer new technology into economic use; but also it could refer to the field of innovation and experimental economics that refers the new economic science developments that may be considered innovative. In his 1942 book Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, economist Joseph Schumpeter introduced the notion of an innovation economy. He argued that evolving institutions, entrepreneurs and technological changes were at the heart of economic growth. However, it is only in recent years that "innovation economy," grounded in Schumpeter's ideas, has become a mainstream concept".
A technological revolution is a period in which one or more technologies is replaced by another novel technology in a short amount of time. It is a time of accelerated technological progress characterized by innovations whose rapid application and diffusion typically cause an abrupt change in society.
Technology, society and life or technology and culture refers to the inter-dependency, co-dependence, co-influence, and co-production of technology and society upon one another. Evidence for this synergy has been found since humanity first started using simple tools. The inter-relationship has continued as modern technologies such as the printing press and computers have helped shape society. The first scientific approach to this relationship occurred with the development of tektology, the "science of organization", in early twentieth century Imperial Russia. In modern academia, the interdisciplinary study of the mutual impacts of science, technology, and society, is called science and technology studies.
A knowledge society generates, shares, and makes available to all members of the society knowledge that may be used to improve the human condition. A knowledge society differs from an information society in that the former serves to transform information into resources that allow society to take effective action, while the latter only creates and disseminates the raw data. The capacity to gather and analyze information has existed throughout human history. However, the idea of the present-day knowledge society is based on the vast increase in data creation and information dissemination that results from the innovation of information technologies. The UNESCO World Report addresses the definition, content and future of knowledge societies.
A creative economy is based on people's use of their creative imagination to increase an idea's value. John Howkins developed the concept in 2001 to describe economic systems where value is based on novel imaginative qualities rather than the traditional resources of land, labour and capital.: Compared to creative industries, which are limited to specific sectors, the term is used to describe creativity throughout a whole economy.
The triple helix model of innovation refers to a set of interactions between academia, industry and government, to foster economic and social development, as described in concepts such as the knowledge economy and knowledge society. In innovation helical framework theory, each sector is represented by a circle (helix), with overlapping showing interactions. The initial modelling has advanced from two dimensions to show more complex interactions, for example over time. The framework was first theorized by Henry Etzkowitz and Loet Leydesdorff in the 1990s, with the publication of "The Triple Helix, University-Industry-Government Relations: A laboratory for Knowledge-Based Economic Development". Interactions between universities, industries and governments have given rise to new intermediary institutions, such as technology transfer offices and science parks, and Etzkowitz and Ledersdorff theorized the relationship between the three sectors and explained the emergence of these new hybrid organizations. The triple helix innovation framework has been widely adopted and as applied by policy makers has participated in the transformation of each sector.