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Pre-conditions
of formation of new economy
and
knowledge management
At the turn of the
XXth century, world economy is characterized by the formation of
knowledge-based society and “new economy” where people’s mind, intellect and
technology play an essential role. This implies that the mankind has made a
great leap forward to the transition of innovative stage in its development.
The peculiarity and the
basis of this phenomenon is that the people pay a great attention to knowledge
as the main productive force and productive resource. The problem of rational
use of the knowledge gained by people is a logical and basic necessity.
Moreover, this provides pre-conditions for the growth demand innovative
technologies and the influence of “new economy” on social and economic
development.
The notion of “new
economy” as a sector of national economy and its fundamentals were studied in
the works of I. Schumpeter, F. Hayek, and F. Machlup. F. Machlup is known as
the founder of “knowledge economy” as a separate discipline. /1/
During the last 20
years, two notions have received attention in the scientific community –
“knowledge economy” and “information economy”.
According to the general
economic research works, the “new economy” can be characterized as follows:
Firstly, “knowledge
economy” can replace economic post-industrial stage of development are considered.
In knowledge economy, traditional sectors of economy are intrinsically
intertwined with new elements of economy and gained essentially new systems.
Secondly, knowledge
economy can be considered as a complex of different changes within the modern
economy. These changes in the system of holistic and industrial sectors of
economy (scientific research, education and high-technologies) have been named
as “knowledge economy”.
According to this point
of view, “knowledge economy” is not only technologies-driven representation of
economy, but it is also closely related to the well known notions of
“information economy”, “virtual economy”, “communication economy”, and “chain
economy”. In other words, “knowledge
economy”, as a whole, covers issues of social-economic and humanistic
character. For example, according to A. Toffler and H. Toffler, new economy as
a novel phenomenon of world economy is an integrative element of new
civilization. Therefore, the notion of new economy bears a systemic character
in one hand, humanistic character on the other.
Thirdly, from the
practical experience of the world economy of today, knowledge economy has
become the strategy of economic development.
Fourthly, in the foreign
literature sources the notion of knowledge economy is also established as a
part of economic theory studying the processes of production, distribution,
exchange, spending, accumulation, and management of knowledge and information.
It can be stated that
two factors influenced formation of the knowledge economy: development of the
state social capital and formation of the innovative sector which is a driving
force behind development and distribution of knowledge. These two factors are
developing so quickly that they are likely to leave behind the formation of
knowledge-based society. The main point is that this process should not be
limited to professional sphere, but should receive the support of the whole
society. In this case, the state policy of support of various aspects of
innovative development and coordinated dialogue with society has become
important.
The program of
industrial and innovative development of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the
strategy of its economic development are based on a high-tech economy with the
use of effective knowledge. In this direction, Kazakhstan government policy on
science and technology (as a part of economy) is based on the formation of the
effective scientific system and placement of management of science and
technology into the main stream of public administration. According to this
aim, the Republic of Kazakhstan is realizing the concept development of science
for 2005. The pre-conditions for the implementation of this strategy are
development and improvement of knowledge and education system. According to
national strategy of sustainable development of Kazakhstan, the main aim of
development of knowledge is to meet the demand of population for knowledge and
social development, to raise the level of intellectual and cultural potential
of population through the national education system.
In the modern world, the
rating of any nation is determined by quality of human capital, the level of
scientific knowledge and the implementation degree of scientific knowledge in
the sphere of production. The formation of the knowledge-based society in
Kazakhstan and its integration into the world economic space is dependent on
some factors. Taking into account the aforementioned issues, first of all it is
necessary to ensure effective development of intellectual potential of Kazakhstan.
Knowledge serves as the basis of fundamental science and it is a source of
production of human capital which, in its turn, facilitates the foundation of
the new stage of technological development of Kazakhstan. Integration of
education and science makes a great influence on the transition to the
innovative economy. For effective work of the following scheme “education -
fundamental sciences - applied sciences - innovative economy”, preparation of
high skilled professionals for the sectors of science, universities and
innovative structures, and implementation of scientific research, it is
necessary to create integrated research centers.
Under conditions of “new economy”,
universities have become multi-aspect structures, which link education, science and innovative services together, and this will make contribution to
enhancing economic competitiveness at national and regional levels. From this point of view, under conditions of new economy,
higher educational establishments will not only be commercial organizations
selling educational and research services, but they will rather function as a
source of formation of knowledgeable, high-skilled and qualified human capital, who are able to implement innovative
systems for providing scientific and technological solutions. Universities as main sources of
production and distribution of knowledge will serve as a driving force of the
“new economy”. Former apprehension
of educational institutions as organizations of social and non-production spheres
is substituted now by new perception as main basis of development of production
sphere creating key elements of capital.
Currently, top world
classical universities combine all main spheres of scientific specialties (for example, Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan), and such universities impart key synergetic effectiveness to the
interdisciplinary development of education.
Only these universities can effectively put into practice fundamental
researches, baccalaureate, master, and doctoral study programs, and under
conditions of high competitiveness, the universities of this type are able to
solve the problems of integration into the world educational market.
Thus, it has become
clear, that research ideology of
cognitive peculiarities of modern society and economy (that is the use of
knowledge, its production, distribution, determination of mechanism and content
of its formation) is like a continuation of Plato and Aristotle’s ideas, and
this ideology is formed in the course of rapid development as part of the
modern world economic science. Contemporary internet is comprised of 1500 sites
closely connected with economics. The
current data supports the fact that 80% of jobs in the US and Europe are
created in the economic spheres of science and technology and software
development. /2/
In this context, one can
recall the opinion of Herbert Wells who stated that “knowledge richness abounds
in the modern world”, and this knowledge may be able to solve serious problems
of today, but is scattered and is not organized; that it is necessary to reset
people’s mind, and they should classify, collect, understand, explain and
compare present-day knowledge. /3/
As a scientific
discipline, “knowledge economy” can be studied from different points of view in
all spheres of scientific production. In
Kazakhstan, aims are set to form the knowledge economy. At present, knowledge
economy is successfully and rapidly developing in theoretic aspect of education
and research.
For example, at Ablai
Khan University of International Relations and World Languages, this discipline
is introduced as an elective course into educational study programs on
specialties of “Economy” and “Public and Local Administration”.
The main aim of present
international scientific and practical conference and the plans of scientists
and professors of the university are to fill unknown knowledge gaps in spheres
of knowledge economy as well as to examine theoretical and methodological
issues on the different levels of functioning of knowledge economy.
As it is known
throughout history, knowledge plays an important role in the life of any
society. However, in knowledge-based
economy, components of the sphere of knowledge services for economy and society
as a whole broaden. Knowledge, as a
direct product of labor, originates not only in the professional sphere of
education and science but also in all spheres and services. These knowledge
services are produced along with other goods. However, in existing modern economy these knowledge products may
be lost to some extent. In
comparison with this, in knowledge economy, these services may be considered as
secondary products from practical point view, but, in any case, their
importance can be considered with the significance of prime products. Knowledge
obtained in the process of production should be processed and consumed.
Knowledge is not only a
separate product and factor of production, but it is also means of accumulation
and preserving of complex financial and material wealth. Even now often the question is raised about “investing into a
person”. Pertaining to that, in knowledge-based society, knowledge is
considered to be the most profitable investment. In this case, a carrier of
knowledge may be a person himself, a group of people, and also electronic
memory devices. It can be said undoubtedly that in some conditions the rate of
“knowledge inflation” is considerably lower than usual economic inflation. To say precisely, calculation and
incorporation of intellectual property in general and knowledge in particular,
into the composition of the national wealth should be taken into consideration.
Functioning as a basic resource, knowledge (also as material and financial
resources) provides national security at a desirable level; therefore it should
become the object of registration, monitoring, collection, keeping and renewal.
Finally, potential of knowledge becomes means of
administration in the process of production. In general, in new post-industrial
economy, knowledge is defined as:
1. Direct
product of labor activity;
2. Direct final
product;
3. Production
resource used in the process of production;
4. As means and
object of distribution and market transactions;
5. As means of
savings;
6. As means of
management;
7. As means of
strengthening society and ongoing building of social institutions.
Management of knowledge
and economy is a daring task, which can be successfully realized through
combined labor for the benefit of society.
Overall, we can make
conclusions on peculiarities of the “new economy”:
1.
Knowledge is a main production factor and its prime
resource. Product, made in
conditions of the “new economy”, is a result of usage of deep knowledge. That
is, knowledge is a resource used in production and services spheres and is
simultaneously an infrastructural element of a system (as educational system,
scientific and research institutions, etc).
2.
Transition to new technology. Information technologies are means of multi-sided growth of new
technologies and human intellectual capacities. For example, by 2015 it is expected that the turnover of science
intensive products will reach US $ 6 trillion on the global market, including
the share of information services totaling one third, which will be US $ 2
trillion.
3.
Virtualization of man-made products, that is composition,
price and value of these products will change in the “new economy”. By composition, the share of material
products will decrease, conversely, the value of introduced intellectual labor
will increase.
4.
The composition and properties of labor will change: a
laborer will acquire new intellectual and innovative properties and, as the
result, common image of the laborer will change to image of brain worker.
5.
Global scale of the “new economy”. First of all, the “new economy” eliminates geographic and national
boundaries in economic space. These
changes are connected with the development of new type of society in which
knowledge is the main resource. According to P. Drucker’s
opinion, “knowledge has no boundaries”. That is why the “new economy” is a
driving force of the global economy, its prime source, and in its turn, this
development leads to ongoing accelerated globalization.
Literature:
1. Machlup, F.
(1962) The Production and Distribution of knowledge in the United States. Princeton University Press.
2. G.B. Kreiner
G.B., Makarov V.L. Microeconomics of knowledge. Moscow: 2007, p. 6.
3. Atoyan, V.,
Kazakova N. (2005) Universitety v sovremennom mire. Vyssheye obrazovaniye,
Russia.
4. Kostuk, V.N.
(2004) Spetsifika economiki osnovannoi na znaniyah. Obshestvennye nauki i sovremennost, Moscow.