We are fast headed towards a shift in the state of the world – towards a knowledge driven society that is geared to move forward based on its ability to process and utilize the knowledge being made available to us.Individuals, the common people like you and me, can benefit from this dissemination of knowledge provided we are given the means to access education, not only at basic levels but at higher levels of study, research, technology. It requires our governments to invest in institutes of learning where we can hone our capabilities and use knowledge to take ourselves and the society to a better and higher level of achievement.

New world order of knowledge

In the absence of such educational institutions, with the lack of resources to fortify ourselves for the new world order of knowledge, we will undoubtedly get left behind in the race for success. We will not be able to compete for jobs or anything else in the world market because we will not have the necessary qualifications and the knowledge to do so.

As we look around us, we see that the global economy is in a major state of flux. The world economy is transitioning rapidly from an agriculture-intensive and labor and manufacturing-intensive economy into a “knowledge economy”. In this new world order, growth will be defined by the quality, quantity and accessibility of information and knowledge and manufacturing and production take a back seat.

Knowledge is a key resource

In a knowledge economy, knowledge is a key resource and is used to create value, whether tangible or intangible. Knowledge resources such as information, expertise and trade secrets form the backbone of the new inter-connected, inter-dependent, global economy.

The concept of the knowledge economy was developed as early as 1966 by Peter Drucker, an American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business corporation. He talked about the manual worker and the knowledge worker – the former works with his or her hands and produces goods or services and the latter works with his or her head, not hands, and produces ideas, knowledge, and information.

Key component of a knowledge economy

The key component of a knowledge economy is thus a stronger dependence on intellectual capabilities and a comparatively less reliance on physical inputs or natural resources. In such an economy there will be a dependence on knowledge workers with considerable theoretical knowledge and learning such as teachers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants, engineers but considerable more so on “knowledge technologists” like scientists, engineers computer technicians, software designers, chemists, biologists, physicists, analysts in clinical labs, manufacturing technologists, paralegals, mathematicians, inventors who will dominate the job scene in the near future and become major social, political and corporate forces.

In a knowledge economy there will be a premium on human capital that is computer literate and skilled at handling Big Data, developing algorithms, running simulated models and constantly innovating on processes and systems. Industries, manufacturers, institutions, with similar skills, technologies, capabilities will connect across the globe by virtue of their commonalities. Thus knowledge becomes the catalyst that develops and connects economies on the global platform.

Key to technical expertise

In the knowledge economy, knowledge is the key to technical expertise, to problem solving, performance measurement and evaluation, management of big data, human resources policies, framing strategies, guiding innovation, propelling appropriate research when dealing with cross-border, inter-disciplinary global competition.

There is a growing awareness and understanding of the knowledge economy across countries be it USA, Germany, India, Brazil or South Korea. All these countries and others are on a major drive to broaden and deepen their knowledge-base and internalize the knowledge-driven development paradigm – they are involved in investing in higher education, research and development, consolidating IT skills so as to attract talent, skill, enterprise for a better chance to fight in the world market.

A knowledge society is defined as one that “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 idea of the knowledge society is based on the vast increase in data creation and information dissemination that results from the innovation of information technologies”