What is the value of knowledge?
Today, I am very happy to announce the launch of The Veles Group. Our mission is to bridge the gap between groundbreaking research and real-world application to help individuals and organizations translate scientific knowledge in the natural and social sciences into actionable insights and tailored solutions that drive impact.
In building this company, I’ve spent considerable time reflecting on a deceptively simple question: What is the value of knowledge? Philosophers and economists have long debated this, but the answer has sweeping implications—reshaping cultures, economies, institutions, and individual lives. In this post, I share some of what I’ve learned about the “knowledge economy,” with a deeper dive into the philosophical dimensions to come in my next entry.
North Carolina as a Case Study
My home state of North Carolina has been forward-thinking in both recognizing and investing in the knowledge economy (shout out to the SBTDC, SBCN, WBCNC, and NCMBC for providing indispensable small business counseling and support).
According to The North Carolina State of the Technology Industry 2025 Report, the tech sector contributed $92 billion—or 12% of North Carolina’s GDP—in 2023. Over the past five years, technology jobs here have grown 19%. North Carolina ranks 17th in the nation for tech industry concentration, and impressively, 8th for overall employment growth in tech from 2018–2023. The statistic I’m most proud of: North Carolina ranked first in the nation for the percentage of women in the technology industry, with women comprising nearly 38% of the workforce.
National and Global Perspectives
At the national level, comparable values are harder to define—highlighting the challenges in measuring the knowledge economy consistently. Still, the data is compelling:
- In 2023, the U.S. tech sector contributed nearly $2 trillion, or 8.9% of total GDP (Statista).
- The National Science Board reported that knowledge- and technology-intensive (KTI) industries produced $11.1 trillion of global value in 2022, accounting for 10% of U.S. GDP and marking a 5.6% increase from the previous year.
To gain a clearer picture, I looked at a recent study by Diessner and colleagues in Socio-Economic Review. The authors developed a Knowledge Economy Index using six output indicators fed into a Bayesian latent variable analysis—a novel approach for measuring the evolution of knowledge economies across OECD countries.
Their findings are striking:
- In 2019, the U.S. ranked second worldwide (after Sweden), with Germany and Denmark close behind.
- From 2019–2023, the U.S. Knowledge Economy Index grew at a compound annual rate of 1.01%, comparable to Italy, Austria, and France.
- Countries like Portugal, Lithuania, and Spain grew their indices at more than 2% over the same period, possibly reflecting efforts to catch up to higher-scoring OECD nations.
- The Index’s correlation with GDP per capita was strong (0.769, P<0.0001), affirming a clear link between the knowledge economy and economic development.
Beyond Growth: The Unequal Landscape
One of the study’s most important insights is also its most sobering: while the rise of the knowledge economy has fueled GDP growth, it has not led to reductions in wealth and income inequality. In some cases, disparities have only deepened under knowledge-based growth.
Looking Ahead
For me, one conclusion is clear—the knowledge economy is already a central driver of growth in advanced capitalist democracies. Yet, our methods for measuring and understanding it are still evolving, and its benefits remain unevenly distributed. At The Veles Group, we believe harnessing knowledge for practical impact requires more than data—it requires thoughtful interpretation, careful application, and a commitment to equity.
