UNECE Knowledge Economy Assessment and Benchmarking Indicators

Geneva

After a decade of remarkable progress in economic reform, many transition economies are embarking on a new path of economic growth based on a knowledge intensive economy. Its share in OECD economies is estimated to account for around 10 per cent of GDP. Exact figure in transition economies is yet to be assessed, but many of them are moving into a knowledge-based economy with promotion of carefully crafted strategies and policies for developing new endowments while others remain lagging behind.

Against this backdrop, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is holding an Expert Group Meeting on Knowledge Economy Assessment on 24-25 April 2003 in the Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.

The objective of this meeting is to review existing analytical work at international level on the assessment of knowledge economy development and to examine linkages between newly emerging technologies and economic development; national and global knowledge economy systems; and government policy/regulatory framework and best practices.

Experts will discuss a set of benchmarking tools for measuring the linkages mentioned above taking into account specific dimensions of economic transition and potential knowledge asset of the EU accession countries and the CIS region. Based on these benchmarking tools a new series of national knowledge economy assessment reports will be prepared for transition economies in the context of the World Summit on the Information Society slated for December 2003. Participants from international organizations include representatives from DG Information Society, European Commission, WTO, UNDP, World Bank, UNITAR, among others.

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Ref: ECE/IREEDD/03/P09