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NKI – National Knowledge Index

  • A good NKI would show whether a nation had a competitive edge with its knowledge resources and whether further investment was needed in education, R&D or intellectual property legislation, say 

  • However, as with NHIs, there are few useful NKIs available 

  • An example is the one used by India

                                India’s NKI – Component factors

· Overall performance of the economy – GDP/ capita, GDP growth, unemployment %, employment/ sector, added value/ sector, exports as a % of GDP, % hi-tech exports

· Governance – Regulatory quality, political stability, public services quality

· Innovation system – FDI % of GDP, royalty and licence fee payments, R&D researchers per capita, private sector R&D spending, venture capital availability, # start-ups, best practice communities, collaboration between business and universities, patents granted, new products developed

· Human capital – Average education level, adult literacy rates, # tertiary students/ capita, organisation T&D spend/ capita, % GDP spent on education, quality of education, life expectancy, supply v demand for various skills

· Core competencies – Agriculture, science and technology, art and culture, natural resources management, disaster management

· ICT and infrastructure – Computer literacy rates, digital storage per capita, volumes of books in libraries, software usage, fixed lines and mobile phones, telephone availability costs, personal computers per 1000 people, airports and international flights, data intensive grids

  • Clearly, the above mix of factors, with unknown weightings, is much too complicated for any nation to become alarmed by its total NKI value

  • How could anyone identify important weaknesses and specific action needed from such an array?

  • So, whilst it suggests many factors should be taken into account, something a lot simpler is needed if an NKI is to have a significant impact on a nation’s GDP and productivity