KEN Philosophy

The international community is faced with potential threats of nuclear confrontation and consequently its destruction.

The international community is faced with potential threats of nuclear confrontation and consequently its destruction. This is paradoxical at the point in history when having at the same time reached many of the objective conditions for highly democratic, knowledge society/economy – bringing prosperity, well-being and happiness for everyone.

The only viable solution to our problems is to adopt the sustainability and genuinely democratic platform, based on mutual respect and full-scale cooperation at all levels – as a way of living, which mankind has deserved after all the centuries of ignorance, violence, exploitation and misery.  

Due to its unprecedented complexity, controversies and dynamic changes, understanding the modern world is a true challenge. The biggest changes  in this century could probably be summarized into the following 5 points:

(1)  Knowledge and innovation have become more important than ever;

(2) Intensity and impact of communication and cooperation at global level have increased enormously – making the world  really »a global village«;

(3)  The character of innovation processes have also changed  (going beyond the  evolutionary pattern), and the efficiency of the innovation ecosystem has become decisive;

(4)  Sustainability of everything we are doing – in business, public and private life – is not only decisive for progress but even for the very survival of our overpopulated planet;

(5)  Population aging  has come to the point of reversed demographic pyramid: first time in history there are more seniors than young people.

Most of the responses to the challenges are withinour capabilities and objective interest of societies.  The proper interpretation of the current status is often missing, public awareness is modest, and – not surprising – lack of adequate action is very serious. This is partly due to inertia, and partly a result of the manipulation by those in power.This is bloking badly needed change and it has to change.

KEN Mission

It is primarily to inform decision-makers, raise their and public awareness, and thereby help them identify and properly interpret the specific situations.

When faced with building sustainable, knowledge economy solutions, and communicate/collaborate with interesting partners dealing with similar issues. As a consequence, efficiency and productivity will increase, and democracy will strengthen – all in favour of a stronger knowledge economy.

Knowledge and innovation are the prime forces of progress, and societies - having fully understood this and organised themselves accordingly - are in great advantage compared to  all others. They have mobilized all their human and material resources, are therefore more productive, and internationally competitive, while experiencing genuine democracy, which is making their citizens rich and happy people.

Modern societies are abundant in knowledge. Never in history have about 40% of youngsters obtained university degrees, life-long- education  has become the life style, and more seniors than ever are taking training enabling themselves to remain active and productive much longer than ever. Pushing people to retire with 65 years means alienating a large proportion of people (20 – 25%) from society, which is unfair, and financially unviable. Consequently, this is pushing pensioners into poverty, and the seniors are taking action: on ECPD average 18% of 65-69 years olds continue working – and this trend is clearly strengthening.

Societies in the 21st  century have the possibilities to become knowledge economies, provided they are willing and capable to organize themselves accordingly, and accepting the demographic changes – which also imply important reforms. The process of innovation has gone beyond the traditional evolutionary pattern and became much more complex and flexible. For a number of reasons only about 15 countries have actually understood these changes, introduced relevant reforms,  and are enjoying enviable results. These are: Switzerland, the 5 Nordics, Luxembourg,  Malta, Japan, Singapore, Korea,  Israel, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

It is essential to expand the awareness of the benefits of knowledge economy in the public, and encourage authorities for changes leading to the successful development of knowledge economy. An important role in this process belongs to the academic community, as well as to the media, but they both  perform this role effectively only in some countries.

Knowledge economy can provide vital support also to other necessary changes for societies of 21st century, who are expected to pay attention to all three dimensions of sustainability: economic, environmental, and last but not least, the social dimension. It is unexcuseable for our time and age to tolerate such shamefull level of socio-economic differentiation as experienced in many countries, including millions of deaths due to hunger, and lack of clean water, while 30-40% of produced food goes wasted or is thrown away.

KEN has as its prime objective to strengthen the awareness of the potential of knowledge economy among decision makers in all spheres of life, particularly among authorities and business leaders. In order to build productive knowledge economies important reforms are needed in practically every domain: starting with education and training, support to innovation and entrepreneurship, economic and fiscal policies, etc. In order to achieve these changes the pressure must come from all societal forces, but that is not going to happen if the public is unaware of the reforms needed to build a knowledge economy-society – with benefits for all members of society.

Given the situation described above, KEN's primary mission is to upgrade the awareness of what is to be undertaken at various levels to develop knowledge economy in terms of legislature, policies and programs.

What are the conditions to be achieved for a well-functioning knowledge economy? They are primarily the following:

Rule of law and well functioning, highly participatory political system;

Accessible, high quality education, well educated population with skilled work force (particular attention to human capital quality);

Public support to innovation and research (at least 2.5% of GDP) – focusing on national strategic sectors and technologies;

Effective innovation ecosystem;

Support to business-academia collaboration;

Support to promising R&D projects, as well as to new and small enterprises;

Culture of knowledge & innovation being the key pillar of progress;

Protection of the rights of the weak citizens needing support and assistance;

Regionally well-balanced economic development.

KEN is attempting to contribute to the development of knowledge economy  through the following activities:

• Publications (Sustainable Development Quarterly, Monthly Bulletin, Bi-Weekly brief, Occasional Bibliographic bulletin “Dr.Minger’s Selection”, Wall Street International Magazine;
• Organising conferences, consultations and workshops;
• Research on various aspects of sustainable knowledge economy;
• Consulting services for members;
• Dissemination of information on pertinent issues and good practice of knowledge economy;
• International collaboration;