Who are we?
In 2003, the Australian Government Information Management Office and the Department of Finance and Administration, inaugurated a committee with a mandate to explore and develop opportunities for the strategic development of the Australian economy in the area of knowledge economics.
For the past two years the Australian Government Consultative Committee on Knowledge Capital (AGCCKC), has sought to turn the problems posed by the new economic paradigm into a leadership opportunity for the Australian economy.
Its efforts have culminated in the establishment of the Society for Knowledge Economics, a professional body with a national charter to raise awareness and instigate a debate on the changing nature of the global economy, and the related need for the appropriate measurement and management of its key economic input – knowledge capital.
Economic Drivers in the 21st Century
Situation background
Over the last three decades, the world has witnessed historically unprecedented levels of economic liberalisation resulting in the increased flow of people, goods, capital and money between nations, markets and economic spheres.
This seemingly irreversible process has simultaneously slowed down and facilitated economic growth and productivity in different parts of the globe, changing the nature of societies, their labour markets and national economies themselves.
The impact of the newly globalised and technology-driven economy on developed societies has been profound. No longer locality-dependent, its manufacturing bases have steadily moved to cheaper labour markets leaving developed nations to focus on the development of knowledge-intensive economic structures.
Today, developed nations are said to be operating ‘services’ or ‘knowledge economies’ in which knowledge (rather than quantity of labour), and technology (as the main productivity facilitator) hold the key to economic growth. In Australia alone, 73 per cent of the workforce is employed in the knowledge and services sector contributing 52 per cent to national GDP.
However, this seismic change has yet to find its articulation in the languages and methodologies of record keepers and economic managers of the post-industrial world. Financial accounts of organisations and economies alike remain married to the manufacturing era and measurement of all things tangible, ignoring – and therefore not appropriately managing – the intangible and knowledge-intensive resources of the post-industrial economy.
The Society for Knowledge Economics seeks to open up the issue of intangibles for a national debate and position it on the economic agenda for the 21 st century Australia.
