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The Information Society and the Knowledge Gap

Mr.Salem Al-Shair, eServices Director, Dubai eGovernment writes on the issues faced by different societies when confronted by the knowledge economy

Several statements mentioned during the Information Society Summit held in Geneva in 2003 were literally carried across to the Tunisia Summit held under the same title. One of them pertained to “Gap Closure”, referring to the gulf that exists between leading knowledge communities and others that are lagging behind.

The new knowledge era has created a scenario of immense competition among rich and poor communities, in sharp contrast to the conditions of the pre-digital era or industrial economy.

This talk of competition surfaces when threats to knowledge rich communities are discussed; and most experts name developing countries like China and India as two of the most formidable players in this regard.

Since replication of the Indian model is not an absolute impossibility, the knowledge rich nations are not that naive to throw their weight wholeheartedly towards efforts aimed at closing the digital gap. Expectedly, the “Gap Closure” term would be carried forward to future events. What the developed world and its financial bodies plan to do is “narrow” the gap, even if they cannot “bridge” it.

One should not underestimate the importance of international grants and aid offered to the digitally under-developed countries though such grants are not enough to accelerate the pace of digital transformation to reasonable levels. The creation of information infrastructures are always mixed with opposing negative issues like corruption, mismanagement , obsolete imported infrastructures and growing foreign debt, leaving the existing gap as it is, if not wider.

The other alternative would be to let market forces rectify the situation. But the text of Article 18 of the closing statement of the Tunisia Summit insists that market forces alone will not resolve the issue and, most definitely, will not bring the knowledge under-developed communities any closer to becoming active players in the information and knowledge fields.

In view of the failure of the grants system and the incapability of market forces to strike the necessary balance, the developing communities are left with no option but to rely on their own capabilities to come up with innovative solutions based on internal collaboration and cooperation.

It is equally important to point out that governments and leadership play an important role in supporting and sponsoring local talent and keeping the abstract market forces at bay.

In this context, the continuous stream of initiatives conceived by the top leadership in our developed country hold the key in the creation of an appropriate environment aimed at providing an accumulative set of skills. A recent example was the initiative launched by HH Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Defence Minister of UAE and President of the Dubai Executive Office, under the title “The Emirates Program for the Development of Local Skill Sets”.

We are quite sure that such an initiative will not be the last in an ongoing march towards making Dubai a major hub in the Knowledge Economy.

posted by Unknown @ 2:40 AM