Why Is Knowledge So Important for a New Nigerian Economy?
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2. Education and Skills: An educated and skilled population that can create and use knowledge 3. Innovation System: Firms, research centers, universities, consultants, and other organizations that can tap into the growing stock of global knowledge and assimilate and adapt it to local needs and use it to create relevant new knowledge 4. Information and Communication Infrastructure: This can facilitate the effective communication, dissemination, and processing of information. In order to benchmark Nigeria’s position in its long-term transition toward becoming a full-fledged knowledge economy, the World Bank’s Knowledge Assessment Methodology (KAM) will be used throughout the paper (box 1.2). The KAM includes several quantitative and qualitative variables that compare an economy with its neighbors and competitors in order to determine the areas within the country’s economy that are in need of improvement, investment, and
Box 1.2
Knowledge Assessment Methodology (KAM) The Knowledge Assessment Methodology is a tool designed by the World Bank Institute to help countries assess their preparedness to compete in the global knowledge economy. The KAM considers 80 structural and qualitative variables that allow an economy to benchmark itself compared to other countries. This helps countries understand their strengths and weaknesses through a cross-sector approach that considers a variety of factors. The variables are used as proxies for four pillars considered critical to the development of a knowledge-oriented economy: education, economic and institutional environment, ICT infrastructure, and innovation. The KAM is updated yearly and collects data from World Bank datasets and international literature for 128 countries. Countries are ranked based on the absolute values recorded for each of the 80 variables, and more than one country may receive the same rank (1 = best performer). The scores are normalized (from 0 = worst to 10 = best) for every country on every variable, according to their ranking and in relation to the number of countries in the sample. The score provides an assessment of the performance of a country relative to that of the rest of the sample. For more information on the KAM, see www.worldbank.org/kam