Switzerland, Singapore and Finland Take Top Three Spots in the First Global Knowledge Index
The Knowledge Project has launched the first Global Knowledge Index, an unprecedented instrument, at the fourth Knowledge Summit, held at the Dubai World Trade Centre on November 21-22, 2017.
The Index identifies knowledge as an integral part of human life, affecting its social, economic and cultural aspects, as well as an engine for comprehensive and sustainable human development.
The Index’s first edition saw Switzerland take first place with 71.8 points out of 100, closely followed by Singapore (69.5), Finland (68.5), Sweden (68.3), Netherlands (68), the United States (67.2), Luxembourg(66.2), the United Kingdom (65.6), Denmark (65.2) and Norway (64.3).
The Global Knowledge Index is based on a combination of six sectoral indices: pre-university education; technical vocational education and training; higher education; information and communications technology; research, development and innovation; and, finally, economy, in addition to a general sub-index on the general enabling environment. The index is calculated through 133 variables covering various vital sectors in the country, such as enrollment, graduation and drop-out rates in schools; literacy; unemployment; life expectancy at birth; e-government; political stability; regulatory and legal frameworks; patents; private-sector indicators; quality and availability of human resources (students, teachers, professionals and researchers), among other criteria.
Also among the Index’s notable results were the Philippines and Azerbaijan ranking fourth and 11th, respectively, in technical vocational education and training, while the UAE ranked second in economy.
Dr. Hany Torky, Chief Technical Advisor of the Arab Knowledge Project, described the Global Knowledge Index as “a major step” in the comprehensive and sustainable knowledge-based development drive in the UAE. In its first edition, the index includes 131 countries, selected based on the availability of reliable and credible data. The Project aims for the index to become a practical tool that supports decision-makers and stakeholders around the world.
The Knowledge Index was released by the Knowledge Project; it is the result of a collaboration between the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), under the supervision of an advisory committee of international experts, including Ahmed El Sherbini of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU); Anuja Utz of the World Bank; Hugo Hollanders an Economist and Senior Researcher at UNU-MERIT (Maastricht University); Jan Sturesson, Founder of RESTING – Advice from the Future; Laurent Probst, Director, Research and Development Unit, PwC; Leif Edvinsson, Professor of Cognitive Capital, Emeritus, LundUniversity, Sweden; Milorad Kovacevic, Chief Statistician at UNDP’s HDRO; Shyamal Majumdar, Head of UNESCO-UNEVOC; Jean-Louis Laville of the Higher Institute of Applied and Economic Sciences; Ali Hadi of the American University in Cairo and Sid Ahmed Soussi of the University of Quebec in Montreal.
