Knowledge Economy

The critical role of Human Capital has driven the Knowledge Economy. There are four pillars, key for an economy to participate, as well as the capacity to learn, be creative, and the desire to collaborate.

Intellectual Capital has driven the Knowledge Economy and the subsequent growth in careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, collectively known as STEM jobs. The Developing World has been the main driver of the Knowledge Economy and these industries are starting to represent a significant contribution to the growth in these economies. There has been the growth of industrial “clusters”, often centered around traditional industries such as the Auto Sector in Southern Germany. The Knowledge Economy relies on three key pillars, the desire to learn. Being creative and open to collaboration, creating new forms, highly productive intangible assets.

BIOTECH, DATA PROCESSING, FINTECH, SOFTWARE, DATA STORAGE, COMPUTER LANGUAGES (PYTHON), IT, TELECOMMUNICATIONS, ROBOTICS, SOCIAL MEDIA, ALGORITHMS

These industries form into clusters and include California’s Silicon Valley a center for Computer Technology, Taiwan in Semi-Conductors and Consumer Electronics based in South Korea. Then, of course, the world’s major Biotech cluster, based in the center of Europe. In total, over 90% of the world’s Biotech is under the footprint from Lyon in the west, to Vienna in the east, then Milan to the south, up to Munich in the north and Switzerland in the center, with several major universities within this footprint. Economics describes three resources, Land, Labour and Capital, and now probably a fourth in Infrastructure. For an economy to compete and be successful in the Knowledge Economy. The World Bank describes four fundamental requirements to fully participate.

Education & Training
To create, share and use knowledge an educated and skilled population is required.

Information Infrastructure
An effective communication, dissemination and processing of information is required. Thus, access to the Internet is key.

Economic Incentive & Institutional Regime
Encouraging entrepreneurship is central to the Knowledge Economy.

Innovation Systems
A network of research centers, universities, think tanks and private enterprises is required.