Knowledge Based Economy

Future ICT Summit 2010 will examine the critical role of ICT in fostering national economic and social development. Reflecting on Abu Dhabi’s 2030 Economic Vision the Future ICT Summit’s primary focus will be building sustainable knowledge based economies.
 

Increasingly economies are based on knowledge and information and knowledge is now referred to as the new commodity.  Knowledge is widely recognised as the driving force for productivity and economic growth in advance economies leading to a new focus on the role of information, technology and learning in economic performance.
 

According to the World Bank and many economists the four interlinked pillars that are central to the knowledge economy are:

Policy & regulation

• An economic incentive & institutional regime that encourages the use of local and global knowledge in the economy, that fosters entrepreneurship and that supports investment in Information Communications Technology (ICT)

Education

• An educated and skilled population with opportunities and learning available to all to enable for knowledge creation and sharing

Infrastructure

• A dynamic information and telecommunications infrastructure that provides effective services and tools to all of society

Innovation

• An innovation system including private companies, universities, science and research centres and think tanks that can draw on and contribute to global knowledge, adapt it to local needs and use it in the creation of new products and services