Transcript Document

Shaping the future
with knowledge
Professor Rais Ahmad Memorial Lecture
Abdul Waheed Khan
Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information
UNESCO
Aligarh Muslim University, India, 18 February 2006
“Today, the search for knowledge continues
to produce an ongoing revolution in the health
and wealth of humankind.”
Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek editor
"Knowledge is like light.
Weightless and tangible,
it can easily travel the World,
enlightening the lives of people everywhere.“
World Bank World Development Report
Central Role of Knowledge
for Development
Economic
Growth
Social
Development
Knowledge
Cultural
Enrichment
Political
Empowerment
Millennium Development Goals
Goal 8
Developing
a global
partnership for
development
Goal 7
Ensuring
environmental
sustainability
Goal 6
Combating
HIV/AIDS,
malaria etc.
Goal 1
Eradication of
extreme poverty
and hunger
Knowledge
Goal 5
Improving
maternal
health
Goal 2
Achieving
universal
primary
education
Goal 3
Promoting
gender
equality
Goal 4
Reducing
child
mortality
Sober Picture
“The overall report card on progress
makes a depressing reading.
Most countries are off track…
The promise to the world’s poor is being broken.”
UNDP Human Development Report 2005
“The ability to create and maintain knowledge
infrastructure, develop knowledge workers and
enhance their productivity will be the key
factors in deciding the prosperity of the
knowledge society.”
Abdul Kalam, President of India
Knowledge Societies
Knowledge Societies
Knowledge Knowledge
Creation
Knowledge
Knowledge
Preservation Dissemination Utilization
Pluralism
Human Needs and Rights
Wheel of Change
Educational
Science and
Technology
change
Knowledge Creation
“Half a hectare of land and
one year of labour were required
to feed one person in 1900
whereas that same half-hectare now
feeds 10 persons
on the basis of just one
and a half days of labour”.
UNESCO Science Report
Knowledge Creation
• Central role of science for knowledge creation
• Unique opportunities of Science to:
– meet basic human needs
– reduce poverty
– protect the environment
– improve the quality of life
– enhance sustainable development
Knowledge creation:
Gaps in Investment in R&D
• Share of R&D investment of global GDP :
– 1997: 1.6 %
– 2000: 1.7 %
• Comparisons of share of R&D investment:
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–
–
–
OECD countries : 2.2 %
Sweden: 4 %
Developing countries: 0.2 %
India: Crossed historic threshold of 1% in 2004
• Gross expenditure on R&D in Asia:
– 1997: 27.9% world share
– 2002: 31.5% world share
– Dynamism largely driven by China (e.g. Number of researchers in
2002 : 810,000 in China, 646,500 in Japan)
Knowledge Preservation
• Preservation of indigenous knowledge
• Preservation of digital knowledge
Knowledge Dissemination:
Role of technology
• To reach 50 million people:
- Radio: 38 years,
- Television: 13 years
- Internet: 4 years
• Countries connected to Internet:
– 1990: 20
– 2000: 200
• Number of web pages:
– 1993: 50
– 2006: Between 3-10 billion
The Multi-Platform World
Knowledge dissemination:
ICT for Development
Source: ICT4D-Connecting People for a Better World, Editors: G. Weigel and D. Waldburger (2004)
Globalization and Technology
• Globalization as a consequence of a number of economic
reform trends including liberalization, privatization and
decentralization
• Technology as mover in the age of globalization
• Role of the Internet, especially WWW
• Increasing digital divide: only 4.8 persons per thousand
are online
A World of Contrast
Knowledge
Prosperity
Globalization
Inclusion
Knowledge Divide or Digital Divide
Ignorance
Poverty
Marginalization
Exclusion
Knowledge Dissemination:
Major Challenges
• Increasing access
• Reaching the unreached
• Providing educational inputs of good quality
• Making educational opportunities available at
affordable cost
• Enhancing the relevance of educational provision to
societal and individual need
• Providing opportunities for lifelong learning
Knowledge Dissemination:
Meeting the Challenges
• Business unusual
• Using mix approaches (new and traditional
technologies)
• Developing enabling environmentss
• Facilitating private initiatives
• Creating public/private partnerships
Knowledge Utilization
Knowledge, once created and disseminated,
needs to be used wisely in order to enhance economic
and social well-being.
• Essential factors for knowledge utilization:
– Capacity (Education for All)
– Access
– Enabling environment
India’s Strength in the
Knowledge Era
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Stable democracy
Stable macro-economy
Dynamic private sector
Strong financial sector
One of the largest domestic markets of the world
Increasingly broad and diversified science
and technology infrastructure
• Critical mass of skilful,
English-speaking knowledge workers
• Highly educated and valuable Diaspora
India still needs
to undertake serious reforms
and investment
based on these strengths
India in the World
World Population
India: 17%
World Land Mass
India: 2.8%
India in the World
World Trade
India:0.8%
World GDP
World FDI
India: 0.8%
India: 0.4%
Comparison India / China
Factor
Unit
China
India
Telephones lines
Millions
263
45
TV sets
Millions
500
85
Mobile/Cellular phones
Millions
269
93
Internet users
Millions
94
38
GDP
US$ Billions
1,920
692
Per Capita income
US$ (year/person)
1,550
625
Population growth
% of population
0.57
1.44
India’s Focus
• Investing in education to create a skilled workforce
• Investing in research and development and science
and technology to foster knowledge creation
• Ensuring India's competitiveness on a global market
• Preserving and protecting indigenous knowledge
• Enhancing the information infrastructure
• Developing strategies to make more effective use of
knowledge
Guiding Principles
of Knowledge Societies
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Freedom
Inclusiveness
Diversity
Empowerment