On the way towards a European Atlas on knowledge and intellectual capital

The paper is based upon the assumption that there are interactions between knowledge, economic growth and social well-being. Therefore, it is extremely important to define and describe the market of knowledge and Intellectual Capital in a company, in a country and across Europe for both policy and managerial reasons. Traditionally, such analysis is characterized by an accountancy perspective. As this does not reflect the modern role of knowledge and IC as economic resource with deep social impacts, a new and bold methodological approach is required. The paper presents such approach aiming to provide a new original insight on knowledge and IC at European level. This is based on investigating knowledge and IC using a set of basic economic variables: supply, demand, equilibrium, needs, stock, investment, flow, and returns. After introducing the methodological basis in comparison to the traditional approach for analysing knowledge and IC, we specify the main data and derive meaningful indicators on the situation of knowledge and IC from official sources of information at macroeconomic level and from a sectorial impact study at microeconomic level. From the outcomes achieved so far, we are able to conclude that there are very different situations regarding IC at European level, and that policy makers, managers, and citizens (as members of the civil society and as voters) should take note of them and act upon them. The results are composed to a first version of a European Atlas on Knowledge and IC. Critical reflection of the current achievements leads to clear suggestions on further research and a specification of next steps for implementing such atlas in form of a web-based service and infrastructure. Here, the most interesting challenge consists not just in drawing links from the company (sector) perspective to a national and European view in terms of a descriptive approach, but in introducing and supporting a pro-active view by enabling to transfer political decisions concerning knowledge and IC at European and national levels into initiating and running purposeful knowledge-related activities inside a company.