A Knowledge-Based Economy

Abstract

The growing dematerialization of the economy is largely due to the development of the technologies of information and communication (TICS). This technological evolution changes the conventional capitalist system where technological information, intellectual property and knowledge become the new values, forming an intangible capital that substitutes the tangible capital of industrial capitalism. Knowledge capitalism’ can be defined as another system of accumulation, where intellectual ideas, technologies, patents, concepts, access, relationships and business models become the main sources of accumulation and value. The terminology is not well established in the literature and the terms “cognitive”, “knowledge”, “intangible” or “intellectual” capitalism are commonly used. While “intangible” is a useful term, there is a tendency for intangibles to be considered more as assets than, equally important, “capabilities”. From this perspective, the terms knowledge economy and intellectual capitalism have a better communication value and will be used interchangeably in this chapter.