ICT-driven human and knowledge capital development: in search of a new economic development model and policy framework in the networked global economy

Information and knowledge have emerged as the central strategic factors of economic and social progress. Under the traditional model of development, the transfer of monetary capital and technical know-how from the developed to the developing countries is stipulated to aid economic development and, as a result, the eradication of poverty in the latter. However, the evidence over the past few decades shows that, not only have such policies been ineffective in fulfilling their objectives, they are increasingly peripheral in realising sustainable economic development and prosperity in developing countries. In the new knowledge-based global economy, investment in human capital will be critical in ensuring national growth and competitiveness. Under the new model, the pace of human and knowledge capital development driven by ICTs (information and communication technologies) will determine the pace of economic development.