Table Of ContentSPRINGER BRIEFS IN BUSINESS
Eskil Ullberg
Leif Edvinsson
Carol Yeh-Yun Lin
Intangible Asset
Gap in Global
Competitiveness
Mapping and
Responding
to the New Economy
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Eskil Ullberg • Leif Edvinsson
Carol Yeh-Yun Lin
Intangible Asset Gap
in Global Competitiveness
Mapping and Responding to the
New Economy
Eskil Ullberg Leif Edvinsson
Department of Economics New Club of Paris
George Mason University Stockholm, Sweden
Fairfax, VA, USA
Carol Yeh-Yun Lin
Department of Business Administration
National Chengchi University
Taipei, Taiwan
ISSN 2191-5482 ISSN 2191-5490 (electronic)
SpringerBriefs in Business
ISBN 978-3-030-55665-5 ISBN 978-3-030-55666-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55666-2
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Foreword
This book is about the future. It is about the human capital that people own and
access (information, artificial intelligence, AI) which adds to capital and labour and
a more dynamic social, economic, and environmental system, that policies must
shape. The question of human capital formation points to a shift in the “production
mix”, moving from the industrial focus (of capital and labour) to intellectual capital
and trade in ideas, based on intellectual property rights, especially patents for its
connection to technology. This question has also been accentuated with the increas-
ing calls for de-g lobalisation following the COVID-19 crises – although the analy-
sis was done in the fall of 2017 – and requires a new approach to “mapping” of these
national and corporate intangible assets (IA), suitable to inform new theories and
policies to free up these most sustainable resources of all. The real prospect of
reduced trade in goods and services, which is the main source of wealth of most
nations today, then only emphasises the importance of IA and trade in ideas.
The book is based on a pre-study report of Sweden, the four Nordic countries and
three similar small high-education and high-tech countries and points at the need for
structural changes, in particular: mapping of national IA in new ways, getting new
ideas into the education system to respond to the new economy and coordination of
IA management across agencies and firms, as container ports increasingly are being
replaced by knowledge ports. The report was funded by Vinnova.
The pre-study begins with addressing the Intangible Asset gap in competitive-
ness for Sweden, then Norway, Finland, Denmark (Nordics) and finally Switzerland,
Singapore and Israel comparing their relative competitive positions in a number of
IA dimensions. Policy discussions in a new IA era follow. Strategic initiatives to
coordinate such policies at national and international levels to close the gap are then
outlined. The book ends with the outline of a tentative workshop to begin addressing
the issues with across-the-board stakeholders from business, university and govern-
ment, addressing the structural changes for a more dynamic economic system.
v
vi Foreword
The authors hope that this policy brief can be an inspiration for a discussion on
“the IA gap” and the workshop a way to engage a range of stakeholders, especially
for small high-tech countries facing increasing global competition.
Fairfax, VA, USA Eskil Ullberg
Stockholm, Sweden Leif Edvinsson
Taipei, Taiwan Carol Yeh-Yun Lin
Preface
This book aims to improve awareness of the value-creating capacity of intangible
assets (IA) – skills, intellectual property rights such as patents and trademarks,
brands, software, big-data sources, organisational structures and processes, and
other assets stemming from human creativity – and alert stakeholders for strategic
action. The material, based on a pre-study, already includes implications for strate-
gic initiatives by means of “options” in the form of projects designed to respond to
the challenges of, in particular, small countries’ competitiveness in a global world.
These options can be prioritised in a follow-on workshop or colloquium including,
but not limited to, METI Japan, OECD Paris, World Economic Forum, Ministry of
Enterprise and Innovation and other ministries, IP offices, and innovation agencies.
All three current top-level international policy dimensions are used to frame this
discussion: economic, social and environmental.
The understanding of the economic, social and environmental value of intangible
assets needs both taxonomy, economic understanding, institutional structure and
taxation policy as well as metrics. The pre-study offers emerging research, proto-
typing and practice insights of the last 30 years on a global scale. One such proto-
typing activity for IA is artificial intelligence (AI), making an important connection
to digitalisation and mathematics as critical future competence areas.
Digitalisation may lead to a more unequal distribution of income (see OECD
reports), which then may lead to social unrest. Without policy initiatives for equal
access to (opportunity for) digitalisation for all, political rest may lead to social
unrest. There appears to be lack of awareness also of artificial intelligence – span-
ning from political to technical processes – where some scenarios estimate that AI
may replace up to 50% of both blue-collar and white-collar work. This may shift
attention away from economic dimensions to the societal and environmental dimen-
sions as criteria for what can be considered “work”, accelerating long-term unequal
distribution through a widening intangible asset IA gap among individuals and
countries.
A main message in this pre-study is thus that the answer is not necessarily “more
resources” – a common political response relying on the same structure – but rather
about strategic decisions regarding resource allocation and the development of new
vii
viii Preface
and innovative structures and new IA resources. This is best done through an
experimental approach of institutional learning. In an era of knowledge, networks,
and circular and digital economies, there is room for many small-country initiatives
as well as the promotion of trade in ideas.
The strategic conclusion from this pre-study is a proposal of a series of initiatives
in the form of concrete projects – experiments – backed up by maps and policy
discussions covering a range of IA-related topics.
Discussion of these strategic initiatives can favourably be initiated in a workshop
(colloquium) to identify priority areas for investment and actions in order to retake
or advance small nation’s competitive position in IA.
Acknowledgements
This is an awareness book for knowledge navigation. It highlights a longitudinal
shift from Trade in Goods to Trade in Services on to Trade in Ideas. A special thanks
to Sarah Lidé who contributed to the editing of the initial pre-study report. The book
is based on a pre-study of the situation in Sweden, funded by the governmental
innovation agency, Vinnova.
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