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| The 4th World Bank Knowledge Economy Forum Looked at the "Business Environment and Knowledge for Private Sector Growth" |
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 The fourth annual Knowledge Economy Forum was organized by the World Bank and the Government of Turkey in Istanbul on March 22-24, 2005. This was the fourth Knowledge Economy Forum that the World Bank had organized to support countries in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) through their transition to the Knowledge Economy. The first Forum in this series took place in 2002 in Paris and focused on the definition of national knowledge economy strategies, primarily in EU accession countries. The 2003 Helsinki Forum hosted discussions on issues related to the implementation of knowledge economy strategies and targeted both EU accession and EU candidate countries. The 2004 Forum, recently held in Budapest, focused on the role of knowledge in enhancing countries’ competitiveness and for the first time expanded the target audience to include delegates from countries in the Balkans and Central Asia.
The general objective of the 2005 Istanbul Forum was to discuss with representatives from ECA countries how improving the business environment and supporting better use of knowledge by firms could increase private sector productivity and growth.
The main theme of this year’s forum was "Business Environment and Knowledge for Private Sector Growth". The agenda covered four broad areas of discussion: (a) business environment, (b) innovation, and (c) learning and skills development. While not exhaustive, these themes are considered essential for development of a Knowledge Economy and are key determinants of private sector growth. Reforming the business environment by reducing regulations that create hurdles and increase the costs of doing business is important to ensure that firms can attract and develop knowledge. Improving innovation and the skills of the labor force allow countries and firms to create and use knowledge, adding value and diversifying the productive and export structure of the economy, which ultimately drives productivity increases.
The Istanbul Forum – for the first time – brought together representatives from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, and Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan. Representatives of the European Union (EU), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), European Training Foundation (ETF), the British Council, and other international institutions were also involved in the Forum, some of them as co-organizers.
Each country delegation comprised representatives from various Ministries (such as Economy, or Industry and Trade, Education, Science and Technology), universities, think tanks and NGOs, and the private sector.
The Bulgarian delegation was headed by Mr. Stanimir Barzashki, Executive Director of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Promotion Agency, and included also Mr. Eli Anavi, Director of Enterprises Policy Department at the Ministry of Economy, Ruslan Stefanov, Center for the Study of Democracy and Mr. Stefan Pavlov of Spessima Ltd. – third-place winner in ARC Fund’s Innovative Enterprise of the Year 2004 contest.
More on ARC Fund’s knowledge economy related work
Innovative Enterprise of the Year 2004 Awards
National Innovation Forum 2004
Knowledge Economy subportal on Bulgaria Development Gateway (available only in Bulgarian)
Website of the Fourth Knowledge Economy Forum, Istanbul, 22-24 March, 2005
Links to previous KEFs
Development Gateway selection of knowledge economy resources
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