Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Smith, Keith
Author-Email: smith@intech.unu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: United Nations University, Institute for New Technologies
Title: What is the 'Knowledge Economy'? Knowledge Intensity and Distributed Knowledge Bases
Abstract: In recent years public policies for science, technology and innovation have
	 attracted increased attention as a result of claims that knowledge-intensive
	 industries are now at the core of growth, and that we are now entering a completely
	 new form of 'knowledge society'. The objectives of this paper are firstly to
	 examine what various authors mean by the concept of a knowledge economy or learning
	 economy; secondly to describe quantitatively the creation and use of knowledge
	 across industries; thirdly to develop an approach to understanding the knowledge
	 intensity of mature, 'traditional' or low-technology industries. In exploring this
	 issue, the paper first uses Community Innovation Survey data to describe some
	 empirical dimensions of knowledge creation in Europe. It shows that knowledge
	 investments are economy wide, not confined to high-tech sectors, and not confined
	 to R&D. The paper then turns to concepts and a methodology for mapping the
	 knowledge base of an economic activity. The aim is to generate a more nuanced
	 understanding of the meaning of 'knowledge intensity' in production. The approach
	 rests on what the paper terms 'distributed knowledge bases' that have a systemic
	 and institutionally diffuse location. Knowledge for many key activities is
	 distributed among agents, institutions and knowledge fields, and the problem is to
	 understand the embodied and disembodied knowledge flows between them. An empirical
	 example of such knowledge bases is described, for the food processing industry. The
	 paper concludes by discussing how such 'distributed knowledge bases' might affect
	 our conceptions of the knowledge economy and suggests links to current policy
	 challenges in both developed and developing economies
Keywords: Public Policy, Learning Economy, Knowledge, Technology Transfer
Series: Discussion Paper
Creation-Date: 2002
Number: 06
File-URL: http://www.intech.unu.edu/publications/discussion-papers/2002-6.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 227 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unuint:200206