ECONOMY

Knowledge Economy: National Conference to shape Algerian model in the matter

ALGIERS- Deputy Minister for Knowledge Economy and Startups, and the National Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CNESE), are organizing on Monday and Tuesday, a National Conference on Knowledge-based Economy, with a view to preparing major reforms, allowing the emergence of a national economy based on knowledge.

The meeting which will be hosted at the International Conference Centre (CIC) of Algiers is placed under the High Patronage of President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

All the players of the Knowledge Economy will partake in the event, meant to prepare major legal and regulatory reforms, likely to encourage the emergence of a knowledge-based economy, according to the organizers.

More than 1,300 participants, including more than 200 national and international experts, will debate different themes.

The Conference is also taking place online, allowing around fifty Algerian experts living abroad to participate via videoconference.

The Conference will encompass several workshops addressing various topics, namely the encouragement of research and development in the economic sector, the financing of innovation, the intellectual property, technology transfer, training, education and capacity building as well as governance.

Deputy Minister for Knowledge Economy and Startups Yacine El Mahdi Oualid, told APS that "this completely inclusive approach of (the emergence of a national economy based on knowledge (Editor's note) will allow participants to provide ideas and experiences, to shape a common vision of what the Algerian model could be in terms of knowledge economy."

It also falls "in line with Algeria's new economic vision: a lasting and more ambitious economy."

Oualid added the Knowledge Economy makes major challenges arise, which speakers and participants in each workshop will have to discuss namely: "to build an economy where knowledge is an additional factor of production in addition to work and capital, create genuine mechanisms capable of encouraging research and development within companies to improve their competitiveness, as well as to bridge the deep digital divide which constitutes a major issue of sovereignty."

President of the National Economic, Social and Environmental Council, Redha Tir said that this Conference "embodies the President of the Republic's commitment to diversify the economy and to operate a profound transformation of its components," considering that they represent a "real start to throw the bases of the Knowledge Economy and to contribute to the construction of a new economic model in our country."

Stressing that Algeria has the capacities to build a Knowledge Economy which contributes to the economic development of the country, Tir told APS that this event, which involves various actors and experts from inside and outside the country, aims to develop the national strategy for building a knowledge-based economy.