[Index]
UNECE Transition Economies
on their Way to a Knowledge-Based Economy
Geneva, 5 November 2002
Nine out of twenty-seven UNECE economies in transition (Armenia, Belarus,
Bulgaria, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Slovakia, Russian Federation and Yugoslavia)
participated in the project “Towards a Knowledge-Based Economy” launched by
the Commission earlier this year.
The country assessment reports prepared by the national experts
revealed diverging development patterns in all the areas, constituting the
foundation of a new economy: the information system, the innovation system,
the ICT physical infrastructure, and human resources development. They also
exposed various digital gaps within and between the economies in transition
and between them and the most developed countries of the UNECE region.
At the same time, the country reports provided strong evidence
that such gaps are reversible. They testify that any country, regardless of
its size and the initial level of the development of the major components
of the knowledge-based economy, could close digital gaps. This could be achieved
by effectively utilizing internal comparative advantages, complementing them,
if necessary, with external factors, which are, however, subject to the availability
and accessibility. An instructive example at point is the Latvian case.
Latvia has been able to carve a niche in the emerging European
knowledge-based economy effectively employing the local arsenal of means,
qualified labour force, good schooling system, educational and scientific
tradition and potential, desire to join the European Union on a more equal
footing, the proximity to and support of the neighbouring Nordic countries.
Armenia, although after a prolonged delay, is now trying
to do the same by focusing on the intellectual determinant of the knowledge-based
economy, thus utilizing its highly qualified pool of scientists and engineers
inherited from the past.
The challenges facing most of the countries that participated
in the project are formidable, and the major constraining factor identified
by the country assessment reports is the low level of per capita income. There
is an urgent need to find an innovative solution to this problem. The unprecedented
development pace of a global knowledge-based economy is such that it makes
the risk of marginalization extremely high. This is equally true for the countries
with a relatively large potential.
One country stands aside the sample. This is the Russian
Federation. Its huge potential is both an advantage (a large pool of scientists
and engineers; the size of the population, the average level of education
of the population, etc.) and a constraint (the size of the territory; the
size of the population, etc.). As a result, the Russian Federation is ahead
of the rest of the sample countries by some criteria (like the production
of ICTs or the absolute number of people being digitally literate and having
access to ICTs) and behind of some of them by other criteria (like the total
number of PC per pupil). This country, by the law of large numbers, is a strong
candidate for the leadership in the areas relevant to the knowledge-based
economy and could have an enormous impact on the neighbouring CIS countries
by providing the missing elements needed for their development and participation
in the emerging pan-European knowledge-based economy. The Russian Federation
could benefit from both sides of its potential: the supply side (or the production
of ICTs) and the demand side (or the consumption of ICT products and services).
Rapid changes unfolding in most countries of the sample evidence
that the understanding of the importance of the intellectualisation of economic
activities and its consequences for the entire modus operandi and modus vivendi
of humanity is here. What still needs to be worked out is the dilemma as old
as the human civilization itself – how to free this new knowledge-based society
of all traditional social ills, including inequality, inequity and exclusion.
In other words, how to bring in all the members of the society into the virtual
reality.
It is expected that the rest of the UNECE economies in transition
will follow the example over the next year. Developed countries of the UNECE
region are also invited to participate in the project and submit their national
reports. They could serve as a reference source for policy-makers of economies
in transition as well as of other countries, who are looking for suitable
policy options.
The reports of the nine countries and the Regional Assessment
Report can be seen on the web site of the Coordinating Unit for Operational
Activities:
http://www.unece.org/operact/
For further information, please contact:
Mrs. Larissa Kapitsa, Director,
Coordinating Unit for Operational Activities
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Palais des Nations, Office 436
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41(0)22 917 42 21
Fax: +41(0)22 917 01 78
E-mail: [email protected]
Ref: ECE/OPA/02/16