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Building the Knowledge Society Information Society Commission 5Executive Summary1\ The Emerging Knowledge SocietyThe emergence of the knowledge society, building on the pervasive influence of moderninformation and communication technologies, is bringing about a fundamental reshaping of theglobal economy. Its significance goes well beyond the hyping of the Internet or the dramaticdeclines in the dot.com sector. What is underway is a transformation of our economy and society.Knowledge has always been a factor of production, and a driver of economic and socialdevelopment. Earlier economies depended, for example, on knowledge about how to farm,how to build and how to manufacture. However, the capacity to manipulate, store and transmitlarge quantities of information cheaply has increased at a staggering rate over recent years.The digitisation of information and the associated pervasiveness of the Internet are facilitatinga new intensity in the application of knowledge to economic activity, to the extent that it hasbecome the predominant factor in the creation of wealth. As much as 70 to 80 percent ofeconomic growth is now said to be due to new and better knowledge.Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are also facilitating a rapid globalisationof economic activity. In an increasingly global economy, where knowledge about how to excelcompetitively and information about who excels are both more readily available, the effectivecreation, use and dissemination of knowledge is increasingly the key to success, and thus tosustainable economic and social development that benefits us all. Innovation, which fuels newjob creation and economic growth, is quickly becoming the key factor in global competitiveness.Innovation fundamentally means coming up with new ideas about how to do things betteror faster. It is about making a product or offering a service that no one had thought of before.And it is about putting new ideas to work in enterprise and having a skilled work force that canuse those new ideas.
6 Building the Knowledge Society Information Society CommissionIt is a further feature of the knowledge economy that it increasingly relies on the diffusionand use of information and knowledge, as well as its creation. The success of enterprises, andof national economies, becomes increasingly dependent on the information infrastructurethat is necessary for the gathering and utilisation of knowledge. The importance of broadbandtelecommunications infrastructure in this context must be recognised as no less significantthan the importance of electricity to 20th century industrial development.Knowledge has become the key resource. Knowledge has value, but so too does knowledgeabout knowledge. Creating value is about creating new knowledge and capturing its value.The most important property is now intellectual property, not physical property. And it is thehearts and minds of people, rather than traditional labour, that are essential to growth andprosperity. Workers at all levels in the 21st century knowledge society will need to be lifelonglearners, adapting continuously to changed opportunities, work practices, business models andforms of economic and social organisation.In this changing environment, holding the status quo is not an option. We move forwards andembrace the conditions necessary to underpin higher value economic activity, better jobs, andnew social prosperity. Or we prepare to fall into relative decline.2\ Ireland’s Strengths and WeaknessesRelative StrengthsIreland’s relative strengths in addressing the challenges of the emerging knowledge societyare as follows:• Our relatively small size as a country enables us to respond quickly to new developments, andthis has been a key factor in underpinning our competitiveness and economic success to date.• The Cabinet Committee on the Information Society, and the appointment of Ms Mary HanafinTD as Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach with special responsibility for theInformation Society, give us the policy framework needed to coordinate and drive forwardthis agenda at the highest level of Government.• The Broadband Strategy approved by Government in March 2002 reflects a new level ofpublic policy engagement with the underlying importance of broadband as a key 21st centuryinfrastructure, and is being underpinned by the appointment of the new Commission forCommunications Regulation (ComReg).• The €2.5b investment in R&D that is being supported through the National DevelopmentPlan (2000-2006) reflects a new commitment to the importance of an advanced science andtechnology base, and recognition by Government that sources of competitive advantage willincreasingly depend on knowledge-based innovation.• The establishment of Science Foundation Ireland to administer the Technology ForesightFund will underpin the creation of a critical mass of world-class research in niche areas ofICTs and Biotechnology and is widely acknowledged as a key and strategically progressivepublic policy initiative.
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