Document Actions
Conference Concept
For quite some time, the phrase “knowledge economy” was only one of the many “buzz” words used to characterize the global changes we have been facing for more than thirty years, both in our economies and in our societies.
However, we have become much more aware that the term "knowledge economy" encapsulates a wide range of short, middle and long term developments which are not only decisive for the production of knowledge but for economic growth as well. Economic growth nowadays depends more and more on innovative SMEs who take on the chances inherent in the knowledge economy and successfully overcome the posed challenges. Economic growth plays an increasingly crucial role when it comes to a debate of issues concerning the knowledge economy: How can we safeguard our high standard of living in the Western societies and how can we stay innovative to guarantee future growth?
The upcoming conference contributes to this particular essence of the knowledge economy, namely the overlapping and interfering aspects of short, middle and long-term developments.
Since the 1980s the economic consequences of knowledge and technological change are intensively analysed in Endogenous Growth Theory. This development led to a renaissance of the interest in the determinants of economic growth. In addition to the traditional factors of production, i.e. labour and capital, interdependencies of technologically influenced innovations and long term developments within Western societies are more widely discussed in order to frame all possible components which may support economic growth. Therefore, it is not by accident that a very recent publication by Joel Mokyr (2006) on the knowledge economy starts with a discussion of the European Enlightenment and its’ meaning for the modern knowledge society.
The conference will discuss the major issues of the knowledge economy within individual workshops. However, during plenary sessions, these different topics will be drawn together through an integrated approach.
One of the major challenges is a better systematic access of SMEs to highly innovative knowledge. This issue goes beyond the SMEs themselves. It is an issue for the entire economy since SMEs are tightly connected to larger companies as suppliers regarding the global value chain. The cases of Boeing and Airbus show how major companies are hit by severe lacks of access to innovative knowledge by SMEs.
Thus the theme of the conference is a very topical one for all kinds of companies.
The conference aims at various target groups:
• Economists who are interested in the various layers of the knowledge economy.
• Managers who have to steer their company through the global process of knowledge based innovation.
• Academic researchers who see the interdependencies of the modern knowledge society.
This short description illustrates how a knowledge economy affects a variety of academic disciplines as well as practitioners. Having chosen an interdisciplinary approach,
this conference should contribute to meeting academic and practice-orientated challenges which today's social processes may impose.
