Knowledge production in a globalising world
Today, there is plenty of talk about 'information society' (including arguments on whether information equals knowledge). Less attention has been paid to the actual production of knowledge, i.e. scientific research. One obvious and traditional site of knowledge production are universities, which are typically financed by (national) public funds. Therefore, the knowledge they produce is (or has been) considered a 'public good'. On the other hand, big companies, that are often 'multi-national', produce a significant proportion of scientific knowledge. This knowledge is, by no means, 'public'. The contrast between these two modes of knowledge production - public and private - is, however, undermined by the processes of globalisation and the decline of the public sector. In my presentation, my purpose is to explore further this development and to ask whether there good reasons to argue that science and technology are 'denationalised' (Crawford et al. 1993)? If so, what are the consequences: for example, who decides (and where) what researchers should study?