Centre for Economic Studies (CES)

I. P. Pavlova 3,
120 00 Praha 2
Czech Republic

Tel: +420 224941056,
Email: anna.kaderabkova(zavinac)vsem.cz

Professional career:

Director of the Centre for Economic Studies at the University of Economics and Management in Prague, Czech Republic. Head of the interdisciplinary team on the research in long-term competitiveness and transition to knowledge-based economy. Specializes in the analysis of sources and outcomes of competitive advantage and innovation performance with special regard to the position of the new EU members and the process of their transition to knowledge-based economy. The Czech Republic representative in the European Commission working group on globalization. Author of several tens of articles, conference presentations and a number of books  on the subject of structural changes, competitiveness and innovation. Supervises the master degree programme on competitiveness and management. Holds master, Ph.D. and assistant professor degrees at the University of Economics in Prague. Beneficiary of a number of foreign fellowships (Universities in Amsterdam, Maastricht, Dortmund, Oklahoma, Oxford).

Summary of the presentation:
Kaderabkova

Knowledge economy challenges for lifelong learning

Knowledge has been the key driving force of economic development and progress since the dawn of mankind. In last decades, however, widespread technology breakthroughs have been speeding up and the world becomes smaller thanks to information and communication technology developments and decreasing transport cost. Globalization increases the role of newcomers from the so far less developed countries able to compete not only with cheap labour, but increasingly with technology more intensive products. Global competition is becoming ever more intense and the conditions of supply and demand are changing fast. Within this environment, the sheer survival and much more the further increase of economic standard and social welfare need adequate adaptability both of the individuals and the societal incentive mechanisms. Within this background the paper focuses on the key challenges related to the successful transition to knowledge based economy and their implications for the subject of lifelong learning. Especially considered is the position of the less developed countries compared with the developed. The broader context of the availability of resources for continuing training is presented, including (1) the demand of companies for skilled workers (linked to their innovation performance and quality-based competitiveness), which is reflected in their willingness to finance the improvement of human resource quality; (2) the availability of public resources for further training considering the problem of ageing population and consequent fiscal limitations, (3) ongoing changes in international division of labour reflected in skill structure developments, requiring the adequate adjustment capacity to large-scale intra- and inter-industry reallocations of employment. Consequently, the ever increasing number of population will have to be trained for ever longer period of their lifetime with ever more limited supply of public resources. Therefore, the incentives for private investment in further training both on individual and company levels must be combined with efficient and effective public support, so that particularly the disadvantaged groups of population are addressed adequately and the adjustment cost minimized.