"Who will Ride the Knowledge Wave?" Ross Wilson.

This article appeared in Employment Today in August 2001 and was written by Ross Wilson, President, Council of Trade Unions.

Preview

Now that the hype around the Knowledge Wave Conference has subsided we can assess what it was all about and what its impact might be.

For the 450 or so people who attended the Conference it was a stimulating three days of speeches, exhortation, and networking.

It unquestionably provided a national media focus on the need for New Zealand to focus on moving our economy up the value chain so that the products and services we sell to the world are based on higher skilled and higher value industries.

There is no doubt that the last decade has, in many respects, been a wasted opportunity as the Government policies focused on the New Right prescription of de-regulation, privatisation and a low wage flexible labour market. The New Right prescription included a belief that industry, skills and education development occured as a result of market demand rather than pro-active Government policies.

The urgent call from the Knowledge Wave Conference was for more Government action to stimulate research, innovation and smart economic activity. Many speakers stressed the need for New Zealand to move quickly to take advantage of the opportunities which the information revolution provides for us.

The risk is that the Conference will be seen by the rest of New Zealand as an elitist event, yet another passing fad and talk fest of relevance only to a relatively few highly educated and skilled New Zealanders involved in new cutting edge industries.

Download the full article here (doc)