Transition to the Knowledge Society, Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC)

Preface

This volume owes its existence to an international conference that took place in November 1998 in Vancouver, British Columbia. A joint venture involving several partners, the conference was sponsored by Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC). Together with four other federal departments, HRDC is engaged in a broad exercise of defining the elements of the knowledge-based society and of identifying the various agendas for research and policy. The problem of access to and active participation in the knowledge-based society is of particular interest. Directorate-General V (DG V) of the European Commission was the international partner. The Directorate is responsible for employment and social affairs and, like HRDC, is concerned about both the impacts of the new information and communication technologies (ICTs) on employment, working conditions, and skill requirements and the larger issue of civic participation and social cohesion.

Two units of the University of British Columbia were involved in the definition of the themes and the organization of the conference. The Institute for European Studies, founded in 1998 with the help of a major grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), is charged with facilitating the understanding of European issues through research, teaching, and dialogue with European scholars and artists. The Centre for Policy Studies in Higher Education and Training (CHET) -an interdisciplinary research unit, as the name suggests -focuses its work on postsecondary and training issues, linking these to broader developments in society and the world of work.

The Vancouver conference brought together some 120 researchers, policy analysts, and high-level administrators from 12 countries. Over the course of three days, they discussed the challenge of the emerging knowledge-based economy and society (KBES). One focus was the impact of the KBES on wages and skill requirements. The other was access to ICTs, work opportunities, and education and training activities. The broad themes and varied backgrounds of the conference participants generated a stimulating international exchange of ideas, information, and perspectives as well as a multidisciplinary dialogue.

This book offers a selection of the papers presented at the conference. All of the chapters have been thoroughly edited or rewritten by the authors. The introduction and first chapter present an overview of the book as a whole. The editors' introduction lays out the design of the volume and provides a brief summary of the individual chapters. The first chapter, by Charles Edquist and W. Craig Riddell, the two rapporteurs of the conference, reviews the role of knowledge and innovation for economic growth and employment, and refers to more specific discussions of this theme in the chapters that follow.

Without diminishing the importance of any of the individual contributions, it is fair to say that the keynote chapter by Richard Lipsey is of central relevance to the entire book. This is due not only to the eminence of the author, one of the originators of a new theoretical approach to the process of technological change and innovation, but also to the broadness of his topic, which establishes the theoretical foundation of knowledge-based economics and links it to public policy.

The editors wish to thank all the contributors to this volume for their willingness to edit and rewrite parts of their original conference papers, under a very short timeline. We also appreciate the work of Joni Baran, Roy Hanna, Phillip Jennings, Yohanna Loucheur, and David Wallace, who recorded and summarized the discussions from the various groups. The friendly and efficient cooperation, support, and many helpful comments from Jean-Pierre Voyer, François Weldon, and Philippe Masse from the Applied Research Branch of HRDC must also be noted. Finally, great thanks are due to CHET researchers Garnet Grosjean and Janet Atkinson-Grosjean, who provided project coordination and editorial expertise. Without them the task of bringing together the various contributions into one coherent volume would have been impossible to accomplish.