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Barriers to Knowledge Societies

Knowledge exists in the minds of the people and when combined with capital, labour, existing knowledge and other inputs produce goods and services and is thus a factor of productivity. This fact which has been realized by many of the developed countries during their transformation to stronger economies. The human brain is a valued resource in such countries as is evident by the trends of brain-drain from developing to developed countries.

It is an irony that the value of the vernacular knowledge gets noticed in developing countries only after its value is recognized and put to use in the developed nations. The self-imposed barriers need to be removed if these countries are to be a part of the growth of the Knowledge Societies. With the advancement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the removal of this barrier becomes all the more imperative for developing countries because knowledge flows and emerges where it gets recognized, enriched and valued; and ICTs can make this flow faster.

Comparative Advantage for Developing Countries
All humans are born with an innate and unique capacity: the capacity to think, learn and relate - the basic ingredient to the creation of knowledge. The comparative advantage for developing countries, especially those in the South Asia region, is its richness and diversity of the human resource capital. Creation of knowledge societies starts with the incubation of knowledge in human minds - a process dependent both on the individual and the external environment.

Developing countries need to recognize and value its human resources capital and capitalize on it to the task of amassing wealth of knowledge which works for the poor and promotes social equality. The wealth of knowledge, in turn will create opportunities for developing countries to emerge from dependence of low-cost labour as a source of comparative advantage, increasing productivity and incomes. Avenues therefore need to be created for knowledge incubation to be supplemented by capacity-building support and enabling policy frameworks which provide opportunities to people to use the power of knowledge for propelling their growth.

Read the Complete Article:  

Heralding ICT enabled Knowledge Societies : Way forward for the developing countries by Vikas Nath.

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