[ox] Knowledge based economy
- From: "Franz J. Nahrada" <f.nahrada magnet.at>
- Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 11:40:03 +0100
Was ist eine "Knowledge based economy?" Mit dieser Frage schlägt
man sich auch in New York im größten NGO-Haufen der Welt
herum. Eine schöne Auflistung aller ins Tanzen geratenen Formen,
freilich vom Standpunkt der kritischen Sorge um Geldwesen,
nationale Souveränität und anderes getragen. Sozusagen eine
phänomenologische Antwort auf Christians Totalitätsdiktum.
Es ist genau umgekehrt: der Herausforderung der Transformation
kann sich keine kapitalistische Kategorie entziehen. Jede beginnt
sich neu zu reflektieren, aufzuplustern etc.
Friends
I am attaching a copy of a paper I had circulated during the
Business Hearings for the Financing for Development process at the
UN on Financing for Development and Transition to a
Knowledge-Based Economy.
I had some very positive conversations with some of the delegates
and private sector representatives, and would welcome comments
and feedback from participants in this list.
(damit ist pip - partnership & informatics & participation gemeint)
In order to support dialogue, discussion and exchange of information
and ideas on Financing for Development and the knowledge-based economy,
I have set up an e-list (electronic mailing list) on the topic
at kbe ffd-forum.net To subscribe to the list, send a message to
majordomo ffd-forum.net with the one-line message:
subscribe kbe
In peace
Robert Pollard
Information Ecologist
Information Habitat: Where Information Lives
ecology2001 mindspring.com
http://gifts-of-light.net
-=-=-
Information Habitat: Where Information Lives
Prepared for the
Global Business Hearings for the
High-Level Intergovernmental Event on
Financing for Development
United Nations, New York
11-12 December 2000
-=-=-
Financing for Development and
Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy
Transition to a Knowledge-Based Economy:
There is a critical need and opportunity for the Financing for
Development (FfD) process to address an over-riding systemic
issue relating to development, namely the ongoing transition to a
global knowledge-based economy and financing for development that
supports equitable participation in the new economy within and
between countries.
A Critical Opportunity for the FfD Process:
(Financing for Development)
An appreciation of the transition to a knowledge-based global
economy goes to the heart of the FfD's mandate to "... address
national, international and systemic issues relating to financing
for development in a holistic manner in the context of
globalization and interdependence".
Magnitude of the Transition:
The magnitude of this transition dwarfs almost other aspects of
the development landscape, and is widely recognized as a primary
driving force behind the process of globalization. The transition
does not just involve the adoption of a new generation of
technology, but is a transition to a new economic framework - a
knowledge-based economy - whose nature and characteristics are
profoundly different from those of the traditional material
economy.
Framework for a Knowledge-Based Economy:
The framework can either be one that consolidates and intensifies
the economic and social divisions between and within nations or
it can provide the foundations for equitable participation in a
new economy, an economy in which knowledge, intellect, and the
establishment of effective and accessible information
infrastructure are becoming the keys to development.
Nature and Role of the Internet and World Wide Web:
An effective understanding of the nature and role of the Internet
and the World Wide Web is central in clarifying the nature and
scope of the transition to a knowledge-based economy. The
remarkable extent of the impact of the World Wide Web was
recognized in the front page story in the Business section of
yesterday's New York Times - seven years from its first article
on the World Wide Web. The phenomenon of the Internet is
increasingly being recognized as fully consistent with the
hypothesis that the Internet is emerging as the brain of a super-
intelligent - and conscious - sentient being, in essence a proof
of the premise of the Gaia hypothesis that the Earth - Gaia was
the Greek name for the Earth goddess - is a sentient being with a
demonstrated ability to respond intelligently to disturbances to
its chemical, biological and thermal equilibrium. From this
perspective, this global brain can be understood as enabling a
profound transition to a new Millennium grounded in protocols
that uphold an equilibrium based on sustainability, justice and
peace.
ECOSOC Priorities and the Knowledge-based Economy:
The significance of the transition to a global knowledge-based
economy has been clearly recognized by ECOSOC in its priority
theme for this year's High Level segment: "Development and
international cooperation: the role of information and
communications technology in a knowledge-based global economy",
in the related Ministerial Declaration and in the establishment
of a high-level Information and Communication Technologies
Advisory Group led by former Cost Rican President. Jose Maria
Figueres.
UNDP, Development and Information Technologies:
UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown has made clear the
importance that UNDP attributes to the new economy as a central
component of development initiatives - for example in a recent
call for "bold new partnerships to harness the power of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to bridge the
digital divide and provide new opportunities for the world's
poor" in an October 2000 speech at the Digital Dividends
Conference in Seattle.
Economics of Information:
In examining the strategic significance of the knowledge-based
economy, it is important to appreciate that this economy is truly
a new economy, and that the underlying economics of information
and of knowledge are radically different from the economics that
have prevailed throughout previous human history.
Properties of Information:
Central to the new economics are the fundamental properties of
information and networks, including the fact that information has
zero mass, zero physical size and can travel at the speed of
light, and that modern information technology is progressively
allowing unprecedented common access to a holistic perspective on
virtually any situation - local, national or global.
Wealth Creation and the New Economy:
Recent fluctuations in the stock markets notwithstanding, over
recent years, the level of capital formation and wealth creation
attributable to the new economy has continued to grow at a rapid
rate, exceeding the levels in the traditional areas of the
economy. There is every reason to expect this trend to continue
as the Internet and related technologies continue to transform
more and more aspects of economic activity. Meanwhile, the rate
of adoption of Internet technology continues to accelerate - at a
pace that far exceeds the rate of growth of negative indicators
of development - e.g. population growth and measures of
environmental degradation and destruction.
Marginal Costs:
These properties of information mean that information- and
knowledge-based goods are essentially free of material
constraints, and have a marginal cost that is virtually zero -
among other things, posing a theoretical challenge to a central
tenet of micro-economic theory, namely that in equilibrium, the
cost of a good should equal its marginal cost of production.
Market Enhancements:
The new economy has not only been giving birth to a new set of
knowledge-based products, it has been transforming the nature of
the marketplace itself - for the first time in history, raising
the possibility of establishing "perfect markets" - where all
parties have access to all relevant information concerning price
and availability of goods. By focusing attention on the nature
and characteristics of the newly evolving market, including the
key issue of access to markets, the FfD process can be in a
position to address financing for development in a manner that
affects its underlying dynamics.
Full Cost Accounting and Sustainable Development:
In respect of the mandate of the FfD process to address in a
holistic manner financing of the implementation of the global
conference agreements, a crucial aspect of the new economy - not
yet widely recognized - is its capacity to correct the historic
failure of markets to incorporate the social and environmental
costs of goods and services, through the integration of full cost
accounting into e-commerce protocols. Such a correction would go
to the heart of reconciling the conflict between economic
activity and the environment that was central to the agenda of
the Earth Summit.
Wireless Connectivity:
The ability for developing countries to make significant advances
in the new economy is already very evident - for example in the
ASEAN region. Rapid developments in wireless telephony and
wireless Internet access are making it technically possible for
Member States in developing countries to bypass the limitations
of inadequate or outdated telephone systems and move rapidly into
the knowledge-based economy through the construction and
installation of wireless communication networks.
The Changing Face of Banking:
The Internet is also dramatically changing the face of banking;
the technical capacity of virtually instantaneous direct transfer
of funds - with minimal transaction costs - via the Internet is
effectively allowing the creation of virtual banks. Likewise,
developments in the field of smart cards and of payment exchange
processes that make use of wireless hand-held devices
Enhanced Opportunities for Micro-Financing:
There has been wide recognition of the value of micro-credit as a
mechanism for in support of the establishment of very small scale
businesses - often with focus on women-owned businesses. It is
now technically feasible to dramatically expand the development
of micro financing institutions - e.g. allowing a group of ten
people in a developing country to each put up $100 that could be
used to finance twenty micro-loans of $50 in a developing country
with minimal overhead costs.
Local Exchange Trading Systems:
The use of the Internet is adding momentum to the use and
development of local exchange trading systems that use virtual
currencies - often measured in units such as "time dollars" -
that allow for a substantial increase in trading and exchange of
goods and services in communities that have very limited access
to conventional currencies. Even though these alternative trading
systems - most of which are very small compared to trade that are
based on formal currencies - are not reflected in conventional
measures of economic activity, they can make a significant
contribution to real wealth and can play a strategically
significant role in fostering economic development in local
economies.
Banks of Knowledge:
The transition to a knowledge-based economy in which knowledge
becomes a central component of wealth points to the value of
establishing banks of knowledge as mechanisms that can make a
significant contribution to development. Knowledge banks can
serve a dual function - both as depositories for publicly
accessible knowledge that can play a key role in supporting
knowledge-based development and as a mechanism for trade that
uses knowledge-based currencies as a medium for exchange.
Debt-for-Knowledge Exchange:
The importance of knowledge as a primary resource in the new
economy suggests it may be valuable for the FfD process to
investigate the feasibility of debt-for knowledge exchange, in
which debt cancellation could be accompanied by agreements by
which governments allocate resources that would otherwise have
been used for debt repayment to capacity building in the
knowledge-based economy.
Internet Domains:
Also of great significance is that in the new economy, the
Internet domain is the seat of property. The domain also serves
as a marketplace - a marketplace that is housed within a global
"grand bazaar" and accessible to customers throughout the world.
Once legal and regulatory barriers to market access are removed,
the domain-based marketplace is able to find and/or create its
own niche - whether large or small - in the overall global
market.
Domain Registration Policies:
The country code top-level domains are a key resource for
developing countries. and support for the establishment of
effective, equitable and accessible domain registration for
businesses, communities and non-governmental organizations can
play an important role for developing countries as they make the
transition into the knowledge-based economy. In this respect, a
good case can be made for examining alternatives to the
prevailing pricing policies for domain registration, for example
substituting registration fees based on gross revenues from the
domain for the nominal flat fee that has been the prevailing
basis for domain registration.
Domain-Hosting Capacity:
The ability to make effective use of Internet domains, however,
depends to a significant extent on the availability of domain-
hosting services that make available services such as web
hosting, electronic "post offices", e-commerce capability and
online fora to support dialogue and decision-making. In this
respect, partnership-based arrangements - public and/or private -
can offer valuable bridging solutions under which developing
country-based domains can be hosted in developing countries on an
interim basis, during transitional periods in which developing
countries establish national domain-hosting capacities. Such
arrangements would however, call for the establishment of clear
guidelines that respect national sovereignty of national top-
level domains.
Tuvalu, .tv domains and National Sovereignty:
The case of Tuvalu provides an important illustrative case in
this regard, and is one that deserves much closer scrutiny by the
international community and by the FfD process. Tuvalu's
top-level domain - .tv - could well become home for the most
valuable domains anywhere, especially with the continuing
advances that are being made in the delivery of television
broadcasting through the Internet.
However, Tuvalu has ceded control over the .tv domains in
exchange for a guaranteed $4,000,000 per year and a minority
stake in a California-based corporation that has been granted
exclusive rights to register .tv domains - currently charging as
much as $100,000 per year for registration of selected domain
names. While on the surface, this may appear to be a generous
arrangement for Tuvalu, it represents not only a small fraction
of a value that has the potential to finance a comprehensive
approach to combat the trend to global warming that threatens the
very existence of much of Tuvalu - as well as of many other small
island states - but also represents a dangerous precedent for
loss of national sovereignty.
Tools for Business Administration:
Information and communication technologies offer owners and
managers of business enterprises a powerful set of tools for a
whole range of tasks related to managing a business - from
accounting, order-processing, inventory management, analysis of
market trends and opportunities. By supporting policies and
programmes that make these tools available in developing
countries, the Financing for Development process can help
businesses in developing countries to be able to compete on a
more equal basis than is presently the case, and to strengthen
their capacity to gain experience and expertise in a vital area
of economic development. One valuable step in this direction
would be to support the development of low-cost integrated
packages that businesses in developing countries could use as
templates for business management and development.
Public Administration:
The significance of information and communication technologies is
not limited to economic activities; an appropriate set of tools
could also be of great value for governments, including local
government authorities, to strengthen their ability to monitor
and manage many aspects of public administration, from management
and maintenance of land ownership records, monitoring local
development and local environmental conditions, planning urban
infrastructure, managing local public markets, etc.
The use of information and communication technology in support of
government administration offers significant time- and
cost-savings compared to traditional practices in the provision
of government services, as evidenced by the experience of
Estonia, a pioneer in this field, while also provides support for
greater transparency and accountability in government.
Geographic Information Systems:
One of the most powerful software tools that is available to
local, provincial and national governments is the use of
geographic information systems; these systems allow for the
compilation of a very broad range of measures of economic,
social, demographic and environmental resources and conditions,
and that allow the presentation of the information in map-based
formats that are far more comprehensible and versatile than
conventional statistical formats. As with many of the other
information and communication tools, the development of
geographic information systems is very amenable to partnership-
based approaches between developed and developing countries,
especially involving the participation of academic institutions.
Public Health and Education:
Substantial benefits can similarly also be made accessible to
developing countries in the areas of public health and education.
From a capacity-building perspective, these two areas are
arguably the most important ingredients for providing the basis
for sustained and sustainable development.
Access to Information and Public Participation in
Decision-Making:
In addition to its significance in the areas of business and
public administration, the knowledge economy is making possible
important new opportunities for access to vital information,
public participation in decision-making and access to justice and
the law. A prime example in this regard is the experience of the
use of information and communication technology in support of NGO
participation in the global conferences of the 1990s and in
challenging global trade and investment agreements that threaten
to undermine the agreements of the global conferences.
FfD-Forum.net:
In support of enabling continued dialogue on the role of the
knowledge-based economy - as well as of all the issues on the
agenda of the FfD process, and in keeping with the decision of
the General Assembly on the FfD process that: "... the
Preparatory Committee ... should consider innovative ways and
mechanisms to facilitate the active involvement of all relevant
stakeholders in both the preparatory process and the high-level
intergovernmental event" (A/RES/54/196, para 6) Information
Habitat has registered the Internet domain FfD-Forum.net and
invites the FfD Secretariat, Bureau, Preparatory Committee and
all interested stakeholders to explore its use and development as
an innovative partnership-based framework to support broad-based
dialogue and participation in the FfD process.
-=-=-
For more than ten years, Information Habitat has been pioneering
the use of information and communication technology in support of
broad-based participation in the series of United Nations global
conferences of the 1990s - from the 1992 Earth Summit through the
1996 Habitat II Conference - and in the follow up to the
agreements reached at these conferences. From its beginning, the
work of Information Habitat has been guided by a holistic
approach based on a commitment to engage in a process of healing
the Earth and healing our selves. This has led to the progressive
development of information ecology as an embryonic holistic life
science intended to facilitate a profound Millennial transition
to sustainability, justice and peace.
Robert Pollard, Founder and Information Ecologist of Information
Habitat, received his undergraduate training in Mathematics and
Economics at Cambridge University, and his graduate degree in
Social Relations at The Johns Hopkins University where his focus
was on research design, data analysis, methodology, personality,
small group dynamics and mathematical models of behaviour. Since
1981, his primary focus has been on developing and promoting the
use of microcomputer technology in support of broad-based access
to information and public participation in decision-making - at
local, national and international levels.
For additional information, contact
Information Habitat: Where Information Lives
<ecology2001 mindspring.com>
<http://gifts-of-light.net>
Information Habitat is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with
ECOSOC
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[pip] - from the <pip-L undp.org> electronic mailing list
. whole earth partnership, informatics & participation .
. http://www.igc.org/habitat/wepip .
_________________________________
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