Since the middle of the second half of the 20th century, the world has been witnessing a knowledge revolution where creation, diffusion and utilisation of knowledge — especially higher and technical — has gained prominence while impacting all spheres of human activity including the socioeconomic development of the countries. Knowledge has, therefore, become the key driver of economic growth taking precedence over traditional drivers of growth, such as physical capital and low-skilled labour. In this context, countries which have taken the lead in using knowledge for their economic development have progressed rapidly. Thus, this trend of utilising knowledge for economic development by some countries has given rise to the concept of a Knowledge-based Economy (KBE), as opposed to agricultural and industrial economies.
Recent positive developments in national security and economy place Pakistan in a favourable position to build up structures pertaining to knowledge economy.
In this backdrop, the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) in collaboration with the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) organised a two-day national conference on “Building Knowledge-Based Economy in Pakistan: Learning from Best Practices” on September 9-10, 2015. This book is based on the papers presented at the conference.
The book covers various themes ranging from “Building Knowledge-Based Economy in Pakistan: Potential and Prospects” to “Imperatives of Building Knowledge-Based Economy in Pakistan” and from “Building Knowledge-Based Economy in Pakistan: Modernising Important Sectors of the Economy” to “Building a Knowledge-Based Economy: A Way Forward.”
It suggests plausible recommendations to facilitate transformation of Pakistan’s economy into a knowledge-based economy.