Release Date: 2006-03-03
Original Link: http://presszoom.com/story_115043.html
Washington, D.C. -- India has emerged in the past few years as a hotspot for outsourcing business and emerging technology industries. In their book, India and the Knowledge Economy: Leveraging Strengths and Opportunities (World Bank Publications, 2005), Georgetown University Professor Carl Dahlman and co-author Anuja Utz assess India’s readiness to embrace the knowledge economy and make recommendations to help the country achieve that goal.
(PressZoom.com) - “What is needed is an India-led process to coordinate and integrate reforms, combining those in the economic and institutional regime with the many initiatives that are being undertaken in the more functional areas covered in many Indian strategy reports,” the authors write. “This can only be done through a domestic process of consultation and stakeholder awareness-raising to get buy-in on the kinds of reforms required to implement the actions that can leverage India’s potential.”
Dahlman and Utz argue that while India is well-positioned to transition to the knowledge economy, it must build on its existing strengths and use the benefits of the knowledge revolution to improve its economic performance and boost the welfare of its people. The authors identify four pillars of the knowledge economy that India must focus on, including: strengthening the economic and institutional regime, developing educated and skilled workers, creating an efficient innovation system, and building a dynamic information infrastructure.
In addition, the authors argue that in order to be competitive in the 21st century global knowledge economy, India must focus its efforts on reforming its overall economic and institutional environment and improving its overall trade and investment climate. They also note that India should invest in building education and skills, strengthening its innovation system, and bolstering its information infrastructure.
Dahlman and Utz also suggest that a national figure, such as the Indian Prime Minister’s Office, publicly lead a campaign to advance the knowledge economy agenda by integrating the economic reform agenda with existing initiatives. They propose creating a “Knowledge Economy Task Force” to coordinate action among stakeholders to tackle key reforms and sequence the investments necessary to move India successfully into the knowledge economy. Recently, in fact, the Indian government established a knowledge commission with the goal of developing concrete initiatives to move India towards a knowledge economy.
“This excellent book documents India’s potential to make more effective use of knowledge to improve its economic and social development,” said Arun Maira, chairman of Boston Consulting Group, India. “Realizing India’s potential requires broad consultation among a wide range of stakeholders to get their buy in and ownership to undertake the necessary reforms.”
The Henry R. Luce Professor of International Relations and Information Technology in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Carl Dahlman’s research and teaching explores how rapid advances in science, technology and information are affecting the growth prospects of nations and influencing trade, investment, innovation, education and economic relations in an increasingly globalizing world. Dahlman came to Georgetown last spring after more than 25 years of distinguished service at the World Bank, where he most recently served as Senior Advisor to the World Bank Institute managing the Knowledge for Development (K4D) program – an initiative providing training on the strategic use of knowledge for economic and social development to business leaders and policy makers in developing countries. Dahlman’s publications include China and the Knowledge Economy: Seizing the 21st Century and Korea and the Knowledge-Based Economy: Making the Transition. He earned a B.A. magna cum laude in international relations from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University.
India and the Knowledge Economy: Leveraging Strengths and Opportunities. Carl Dahlman and Anuja Utz. ISBN: 0-8213-6207-0, Paperback. Published by World Bank Publications, 2005.
About the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
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