Knowledge-based Development Strategies Research Articles

Knowledge Economy Gaps, Policy Syndromes, and Catch-Up Strategies: Fresh South Korean Lessons to Africa

Africa’s overall knowledge index fell between 2000 and 2009. South Korea’s economic miracle is largely due to a knowledge-based development strategy that holds valuable lessons for African countries in their current pursuit towards knowledge economies. Using updated data (1996-2010), this paper presents fresh South Korean lessons to Africa by assessing the knowledge economy (KE) gaps, deriving policy syndromes and providing catch-up strategies. The 53 African frontier countries are decomposed into fundamental characteristics of wealth, legal origins, regional proximity, oil-exporting, political stability and landlockedness. The World Bank’s four KE components are used: education, innovation, information & communication technology (ICT) and economic incentives & institutional regime. Absolute beta and sigma convergence techniques are employed as empirical strategies. With the exception of ICT for which catch-up is not very apparent, in increasing order it is visible in: innovation, economic incentives, education and institutional regime. The speed of catch-up varies between 8.66% and 30.00% per annum with respective time to full or 100% catch-up of 34.64 years and 10 years. Based on the trends and dynamics in the KE gaps, policy syndromes and compelling catch-up strategies are discussed. Issues standing on the way to KE in Africa are dissected with great acuteness before South Korean relevant solutions are provided. The paper is original in its provision of practical policy initiatives drawn from the Korean experience to African countries embarking on a transition to KE.

How Beneficial is a Knowledge-based Development Strategy for Peripheral Regions? A Case Study

This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the success factors of peripheral regions in the knowledge economy. It explores the viability of the knowledge-based development model for peripheral regions by examining the experiences of a follower region in Finland. The empirical case is Seinäjoki region in Western Finland which adopted a determined knowledge, research and innovation-driven development strategy in the 1980s. The article analyses the evolution of this strategy and assesses the progress and results that have been achieved until 2012. The results show that the strategy has improved the preconditions and structures for innovation, but there have been difficulties in turning these into real innovation outcomes. Peripheral regions may benefit from a knowledge-based development strategy but the development is slow and only takes place through building base capacity in the region.

Knowledge Economy Gaps, Policy Syndromes and Catch-Up Strategies: Fresh South Korean Lessons to Africa

Africa’s overall knowledge index fell between 2000 and 2009. South Korea’s economic miracle is largely due to a knowledge-based development strategy that holds valuable lessons for African countries in their current pursuit towards knowledge economies. Using updated data (1996-2010), this paper presents fresh South Korean lessons to Africa by assessing the knowledge economy (KE) gaps, deriving policy syndromes and providing catch-up strategies. The 53 African frontier countries are decomposed into fundamental characteristics of wealth, legal origins, regional proximity, oil-exporting, political stability and landlockedness. The World Bank’s four KE components are used: education, innovation, information & communication technology (ICT) and economic incentives & institutional regime. Absolute beta and sigma convergence techniques are employed as empirical strategies. With the exception of ICT for which catch-up is not very apparent, in increasing order it is visible in: innovation, economic incentives, education and institutional regime. The speed of catch-up varies between 8.66% and 30.00% per annum with respective time to full or 100% catch-up of 34.64 years and 10 years. Based on the trends and dynamics in the KE gaps, policy syndromes and compelling catch-up strategies are discussed. Issues standing on the way to KE in Africa are dissected with great acuteness before South Korean relevant solutions are provided. The paper is original in its provision of practical policy initiatives drawn from the Korean experience to African countries embarking on a transition to KE.

Knowledge-Based Urban Development: The Local Economic Development Path of Brisbane, Australia

Knowledge-based development strategies play an important role in supporting local economic development of cities in the knowledge era. This paper investigates local knowledge-based urban development policies of Brisbane, Australia in its long journey to become a competitive knowledge city. The paper examines Brisbane's recent progress towards establishing knowledge community precincts that are critical creative urban environments to attract and retain global investment and talent. This paper also discusses major challenges Brisbane is experiencing during the implementation of its state- and city-wide knowledge-based urban development strategies.

An AI-based decision support system for designing Knowledge-Based Development strategies

In the new era of knowledge economy, knowledge and the processes to generate and manage it are considered as the most valuable assets of an organisation in the competitive business environment. Over the last years, intensive discussions have taken place about the importance of Knowledge Management for the whole society, except from the business world. Today, there is a consensus among researcher's and practitioner's communities that the challenges facing modern societies, call for development strategies that are knowledge-based. In this context, the theme of Knowledge Cities (KCs) came to the front. The review of literature reveals that the process of designing Knowledge-Based Development (KBD) strategies for KCs is complex and not appropriately supported by decision support methodologies and/or intelligent systems. In this paper, the authors, based on a previously presented methodology for the formulation of a KBD strategy for KCs, propose an AI-based decision support system for designing such strategies, by selecting and prioritising the most appropriate interventions and actions. The system consists of two sub-systems: the first (developed using the technology of Expert Systems) assess the necessity of a particular intervention and proposes its most appropriate form. The second prioritises the selected interventions based on Multi-Criteria Decision Making. The authors also present the successful preliminary results of the systems pilot application to a Greek municipality.