THE ROLE OF EDUCATION PUBLIC POLICIES IN THE CREATION OF KNOWLEDGE BASED ECONOMIES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Investment in investigation, innovation and education, the key concepts of the triangle of knowledge, has been considered for many years as the key to economic, scientific and technological leadership by developed countries.
According to OECD, The United States, Europe and Japan are at the forefront of world science; since 2001 R&D expenses have increased equally to the GPD until reaching levels around 2,25% from total GPD. However, in 2005 China became the third R&D investor in the world (in terms of purchasing power parity), after the United States and Japan with a growth of more than 18% per year in the period between 2000 and 2005.
Another interesting point to bear in mind is the position of the business sector which covers the main part of the R&D efforts in the OECD countries referring to the results and financing (63% and 68%, respectively of the total).
The impact of new actors in the international R&D network coming from developing economies may change the investment flows designated to innovation processes in developing economies that have a great potential to develop a knowledge based economy. This, added to the importance of companies in these possible restructuring of the R&D world map.
For a developing country, the possibility to make the most out of the connection with R&D international networks will depend on the quality and training of human resources and the important role of institutions (where organizations and regulations that control innovation activities are included). In this sense, public policies in education performed by these countries acquire major relevance, and also its connection with innovation and investigation policies.