Knowledge is life with wings - Khalil Gibran
Knowledge Policy is politics on speed.
On 28 February the new government in South Korea inaugurated the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) - a world first. The new ministry was created under the Government Restructuring Plan under which the presidential transition committee announced that the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) will be abolished and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MoCIE) will be expanded to the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy. Also, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) will be merged with the Ministry of Education. In the plan, the current government structure will be reduced to thirteen ministries and two agencies. According to the MKE website, "MKE incorporates certain functions that were previously the responsibility of other Ministries (Information and Communications, Science and Technology, Finance and Economy)".
Lee Youn Ho, the minister-in-charge of MKE remarked on its inauguration that MKE
"is charged with the ever-important task of upgrading Korea’s growth engines of industry and technology. .... our primary undertaking is to create a business-friendly environment that is less burdensome, more transparent, and absolutely welcoming to businesses, both domestic and foreign. I plan to eliminate counterproductive regulations that undermine corporate competitiveness, identify nuisances which impede investment, and establish a Ministry-wide system to resolve such problems. Our other pressing task at hand is to develop a comprehensive mid-to long-term vision to secure new growth engines for the nation. To achieve this goal I am implementing a three-pronged policy to support existing value-added industries, discover and foster next-generation industries, and strengthen the service industry."
Korea is not new to restructuring. It has a history of new knowledge policy initiatives being started everytime a new government takes over. It is also known for its informatization visions like IT839, e-Korea, Broadband IT Korea. Thanks to past strategic direction Korea has become East Asia's premier ICT hub. The challenge before MKE is to expand those gains into wider S&T, higher education and industry sectors. The creation of a supra-ministry with the aim to streamline the whole-of-government approach to knowledge economy carries the hopes of a nation. I deeply suspect that the new system is pro-chaebol and it will be interesting to see how things pan out.
Internationally acclaimed film director Shekhar Kapoor on the Knowledge Economy
Why do you think that the entertainment industry’s concerns have not been given their due importance in the Union Budget over the past few years?
The concept of a knowledge economy and education is not far removed from an entertainment economy that encompasses infotainment.
Technology and entertainment are almost the same businesses today, and the technological tools of dissemination of knowledge and education are the same as those required for New Media.
I am disappointed that the FM has not allocated a much larger sum to broadband. Broadband is key infrastructure to bridge the rural-urban divide.
If there can be reverse racism, can reverse outsourcing be far behind? According to a story in LA Times the Indian Embassy is going to outsource some visa-related work to an American firm.
This is a good "man bites dog" story. For a moment I thought as if I have coined a new terminology "reverse outsourcing" but a quick Google check put my excitement to rest.
LA TIMES India to outsource paperwork to American firm
India has taken thousands of American jobs through outsourcing. Now it's giving a few back.The Indian government plans to outsource processing of visas (visitor documents, not the credit cards) from its embassy in Washington to an American based company. A top embassy official wouldn't say whether the 40 staffers who do the jobs now would be laid off. Many of them are Indian nationals. "We are not going to let too many go," said Gautam Bambawale, head of political affairs at the embassy. UC Berkeley professor Harley Shaiken, who specializes in labor issues, said the move "is really a man bites dog kind of story. It's a small irony in an otherwise serious situation." He said outsourcing of tech help lines, accounting work and even medical procedures played a significant role in the $11.7-billion U.S. trade deficit with India last year.
New Terminology in the Knowledge / Information Economy / Society (KIES)* Discourse:
1. FLOSS - Free, Libre, Open Source Software
2. Creative Commons.
3. Simputer.
4. OLPC: One Laptop per Child.
5. K4D: Knowledge for Development.
6. ICT4D: Information and Communications Technology for Development.
7. Infocomm: Information and Communications.
8. Broadband Divide/Gap.
9. Web 2.0
* KIES was coined by my supervisors Charles Crothers and Sharon Harvey of AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand.
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