Information Science faculty member Dr. Suliman Hawamdeh served as the honored guest and keynote speaker at the 15th Anniversary of the International Council on Knowledge Management Conference program in Brazil. Dr. Hawamdeh reflected on the history of the organization and the future for Brazilians knowledge-based economy. This was the first ICKM conference held in South America.

“Technology is important. It’s going to continue to advance, but without the human resources or human capital, it is difficult to advance any knowledge economy in any country,” Hawamdeh, told the audience. His speech titled the History and Evolution of Knowledge Management: What we have learned so far included his experience working with the International Committee on Knowledge Management.

Hawamdeh also suggested it’s time for countries like Brazil to move from being a user of technology to an innovator of the field. Hawamdeh believes the transformation to knowledge creator will ultimately generate wealth and improve the lives of the people by creating a focus on a knowledge-based economy.  Getting countries to invest in education and their people as a resource, training higher education which ultimately turns into research innovation. Intellectual capital has become a big resource and a big opportunity for countries to generate wealth. Additional information on the knowledge-based economy discussion is available on YouTube.  https://youtu.be/qa1CkLQpiu4