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

Knowledge

Economic Growth

Cultural Enrichment

Social Development

Political Empowerment

Millennium Development Goals

Goal 1

Eradication of extreme poverty

and hunger

Goal 8

Developing a global

partnership for development

Goal 2

Achieving universal primary

education

Goal 3

Promoting gender equality

Goal 7

Ensuring environmental sustainability

Goal 6

Combating HIV/AIDS,

malaria etc.

Goal 4

Reducing child

mortalityGoal 5

Improving maternal

health

Knowledge

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

Human Needs and Rights

Knowledge Societies

Pluralism

Human Needs and RightsHuman Needs and Rights

Knowledge SocietiesKnowledge Societies

PluralismPluralism

Knowledge

Creation Dissemination UtilizationPreservation

Knowledge Knowledge Knowledge

Wheel of Change

Social

changeDemographic

change

Economic change

Cultural

Change

Political

Changechange

Educational

Science and Technology

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: – 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 WorldThe 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

IgnorancePoverty

MarginalizationExclusion

KnowledgeProsperityGlobalizationInclusion

Knowledge Divide or Digital Divide

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

• 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’s Strength in theKnowledge Era

India still needs to undertake serious reforms

and investment based on these strengths

India in the World

World Population World Land Mass

India: 17% India: 2.8%

India in the World

World Trade World FDI

India:0.8%

World GDP

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

• Freedom

• Inclusiveness

• Diversity

• Empowerment