What is this knowledge based economy thing about?

[aidanodr]

Hi Guys,

All I hear from this government and particularly Michael Martin is:

"We need to create a knowledge based economy"

Even the media is subscribing to this almost without question. They seem to have compartmentalised this. Mainly talking about educating the young, those at school / university NOW to a level of knowledge based economy FOR THE FUTURE.

YES - I agree with this BUT BUT BUT I dont hear anything about the rest of us:

What of the existing workforce? The person in their mid 30's - 40's - 50's who has just been made redundant? Can they upskill to the new Knowledge based economy? Have they the ability to? How could they?

If they manage to upskill who will the employer take on? The university person or the 40 year old? I bet the former - why? Well cheaper for a start and also ageism - which by the way - exists ( no legislation can be made to eradicate this from peoples minds ).

WHAT QUANTIFIES A KNOWLEDGE BASED ECONOMY? WHAT TYPE OF JOBS ARE IN THIS KNOWLEDGE BASED ECONOMY? WHAT SKILL SET IS REQUIRED TO PARTAKE?

I have texted / emailed radio stations about this in the past. No body seems to want to answer - it seems as long as we use MICHAELS buzz phrase KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY - all will be ok, dont worry guys.

Maybe we should have a new compulsory show on the state broadcaster called - AN Printíseach ( the apprentice as gaeilge )

Instead of Alan Sugar have it hosted by Michael Martin AND that all people in the current workforce HAVE to take part. Note I have not included any smileys here!

Cheers
Aidan

PS - I have posted this at politics.ie and boards.ie, not spaming, just want to hear how different audiences react!

[Helium Three]

I suspect nobody knows.


Have you asked MM what it means? You should.

[seabhcan]

The Knowledge Economy is the vaguely racist idea that while China can out compete us in making stuff, they will never be able to design stuff for their own factories.

[Universal_001]

It's a fantasy dreamt up to conceal the fact that our education system is a shambles and the amount of science and engineering students in Ireland is plummeting.

[cleareyed2]

Supposedly manufacturing is too expensive for developed economies so we do r&d and such. Which means that you need qualified people to do r&d. Hence "knowledge based" economy. One problem: you can't create a knowledge economy by dumbing down standards...which has happened right the way through to 3rd level. Interestingly enough I suspect that a social consequence of the Knowledge economy and "demand" for more "highly" qualified people will be an ongoing level of social immaturity as people remain in student mode for a longer periods...now for my masters, now for the doctorate, now for the post doctorate , now for the research project. *Looks around for evidence...

[jmcc]

Simply put: Too many unemployed social studies and arts graduates and a failure to concentrate on the development of a good technological and scientific educational system.

To the politicians, who generally haven't a clue about technology, it means jobs in call centres, help desks and production lines of people stuffing CDs and DVDs in boxes.

When you have a technologically ignorant bunch of fools in charge you get things like the Media Lab Europe. Their moron cheerleaders in the media aren't much better - not a technological clue amongst the lot of them but they loved the little shows that the MLE people put on for them.

A knowledge economy is based on developing products and services from information or data or pure research. It can do this by developing software or by developing services that use data in new ways. It can also do it by developing new processes and materials from scientific research and monetising that research by licensing it to companies in the form of patents or intellectual property.

The problem is that it is highly concentrated on the quality of the people employed rather than the quantity of the people employed. It requires a higher level of intelligence, training and creativity than mere production line work. Not everybody is suited for a job in this Knowledge Economy.

Developing a knowledge based economy hurts people's feelings because the requirement to compete at an international level demands that the weak be culled. That upsets the happy-clappies who have never done a hard day's work in their life.

Regards...jmcc

[jmcc]

The Knowledge Economy is the vaguely racist idea that while China can out compete us in making stuff, they will never be able to design stuff for their own factories.

You don't seem to have a clue about how China pirates designs and technology. When the initial, expensive research has been done, it is much cheaper to just rip off the design. It takes a special class of muppet to introduce a groundless charge of racism into a discussion on the knowledge economy.

Regards...jmcc

[FutureTaoiseach]

It's partly about encouraging research and development in Ireland. Experience shows that if multinationals can be incentivised to carry out R+D in Ireland, they are more likely to remain in Ireland (or so I've heard). It's also about encouraging the advancement of science in Ireland.

[Leftfemme22]

Supposedly manufacturing is too expensive for developed economies so we do r&d and suc.

2 of the most developed economies in the world are the German and Japanese and they manufacture a hell of a lot. If I'm not mistaken is Germany not the highest exporter in the world?

These economies compliment R&D and manufacturing as they understand how vital each component is. A knowledge economy does not exist in any real sense and no economy in the world is wholly reliant on R&D. It is also insipid folly to suggest that China or India or any other so called manufacturing economy cannot or does not educate, train, employ and utilise high end skills to their ultimate potential. Chinese and Indian graduates are every bit as capable as western ones and are much more numerous.

[Electro]

Synonym for consumer econonmy, advanced post-Industrial economy, reduced manufacturing base economy. "Knowledge economy" is just a fancy term for that, and not very descriptive either.