Senior policymakers and representatives from business, academia and non-government organizations met in Helsinki, Finland for the Knowledge Economy Forum, March 25-28, 2003. The pan-European event, hosted by the World Bank and the Government of Finland, is entitled Implementing Knowledge Economy Strategies: Innovation, Life-Long Learning, Partnerships, Networks and Inclusion.

The Knowledge Economy describes the new economic environment in which innovation and knowledge are replacing capital and labor as the primary wealth-creating assets. “The ability of a society to acquire and use knowledge helps drive the competitiveness of a country’s economy and can mean the difference between prosperity and stagnation, both between and within countries,” says World Bank Europe and Central Asia Vice President Johannes Linn, who attended the event along with other regional experts.

At the Helsinki event, delegates from Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Turkey, plus Russia and Ukraine, presented case studies in areas such as building innovation systems and promoting continuing education as well as research and development.

The Helsinki conference is a follow-up to the 2002 Paris Knowledge Economy Forum organized by the World Bank in partnership with the European Commission, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the European Investment Bank. While the emphasis of the Paris Forum was on formulating knowledge economy strategies for EU accession countries and on assessing the current state of efforts in this area, the goal of the Helsinki Forum was to move from theory to action. Participating countries and invited speakers demonstrated, primarily through presentation of case studies, how countries can speed up the transition to Knowledge Economies through well-designed and implemented programs and policies, private/public/NGO partnerships, and community action.

For more information visit 2003 Helsinki Forum website.