Learning - Europe & Central Asia Regional Programs

The stimulus to create the East Asia & Central Asia Knowledge Economy (ECAKE) Team originally came from Regional Vice President, Johannes Linn, who over the past three years saw the necessity for a structured KE strategy in our region. The ultimate goal of this strategy is mainstreaming the knowledge economy concept into operations and policy dialogue. This is not just about private and financial sector development, but rather about all our ECA projects that can be enhanced by better, broader, and faster knowledge..

One of the priorities of this strategy is bringing clarity to the various knowledge concepts. The knowledge arena is like an elephant being explored by blindfolded people, with some tugging at the tail and others patting the trunk, but each of them perceiving it as something distinct. Indeed there are various angles from which one can look at the knowledge concept. There is the knowledge management aspect that helps organize, share, and disseminate knowledge (ours and others) to colleagues, clients, and partners (the Global Development Learning Network is used increasingly for this purpose); there is our support to clients to foster greater efficiency in the private sector and in government (egovernment applications and pilot projects); there is direct support to ECA countries in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of their knowledge system (private sector, education, innovation system and ICT sector) by carrying out Knowledge Economy Assessments, and by providing recommendations on how to reform the system. Our recent Knowledge Economy Assessment for Lithuania is on display in the booth. Finally, we are also looking at how to design specific operations in support of knowledge creation and diffusion, whether in the form of technical assistance or investment projects.

While these various concepts are developed in separate units, they are all interrelated, and that it is only by embracing the broader notion of knowledge for development and transition, that one fully understands its role and importance. Colleagues in ECA, and more generally in the Bank, are beginning to absorb and respond to the importance of knowledge concepts. But sometimes we are frustrated by the misconception that KE is all about computers, cell phones, and smart cards. We all need to ask ourselves how we can apply knowledge -often drawing upon new technologies- to enhance our agricultural output, establish communications infrastructure, engage in cleaner mining, reduce infant mortality or increase transparency in government.