Conference aims at new path to knowledge

A major conference of international leaders and 300 New Zealanders is planned for August to work out a national strategy for the country's transition to a knowledge society.

The conference, organised by the Government and the University of Auckland, will be the culmination of a project titled Catching the Knowledge Wave.

The project, launched last night by Prime Minister Helen Clark, is designed to find new paths for social and economic development.

The international conference in August will be chaired by Helen Clark and the vice-chancellor of the university, John Hood.

Helen Clark said the project was an opportunity to "lift our national sights and move beyond familiar, sometimes stale, debates about the direction that New Zealand is heading in."

Announcing the project last night, she said it had been known for some time that New Zealand was not keeping up with the development of other first world nations.

The country's export profile resembled that of a developing country, not a developed one, she said.

The Government believed New Zealand's economy and society needed to be driven far more by knowledge, technology and innovation.

Measures to help in the transition included ending the "destructive" competition within the tertiary sector that had resulted in thinly spread resources, business grants, a responsive immigration policy and an effective law against computer hacking.

New Zealanders wanted a country capable of sustaining its First World status, with well-educated, innovative citizens who chose to stay in the country because it was the best possible place to be, she said.

"It is a chance to look with fresh eyes at the kind of society we want to create, in a world where knowledge is replacing the old sources of wealth and power as the driving force in the world's most successful societies.

"In practical terms, we need to be commercialising more of our new ideas than we manage at present, ensuring that we have the highly educated population and the technology to realise our innovation vision."

Dr Hood said the conference would include the heads of major companies, community leaders, cabinet members and ministry heads, with leaders in education and the media.

Key themes would be:

* Fostering innovation, learning and creativity.

* Macro-economic policy and growth.

* Entrepreneurship in the knowledge economy.

* People and capability.

* Economic sustainability.

* Social cohesion and cultural transformation.

Organisers were determined to make the process as inclusive as possible, he said.

A public programme of public lectures and an interactive website would run with the conference.

Full text of John Hood's speech

Herald Online feature: The knowledge society

Catching the Knowledge Wave project