About the Conference

Title: The 37th IFTDO World Conference & Exhibition 2008
Theme: Knowledge and Human Resources
Date: 03 – 06 March 2008
Venue: Dubai International Convention Centre



Theme: Knowledge and Human Resources

Economists have long understood that knowledge workers are the source of innovation, and that innovation is a key driver of economic growth. Knowledge workers create new ideas, technology, or content and engage in complex problem-solving using independent judgment. The presence of a strong Knowledge class is highly correlated with a country’s international competitiveness.

Global competition has shifted to include not only the creation of new knowledge, but the speed of implementation and the ability to create an environment that attracts and retains the best and brightest knowledge workers.

Advances are being made that offer significant opportunities to leverage existing knowledge worker resources. Researchers are forging a more complete understanding of how humans accumulate expertise, how that process might be accelerated, and how that expertise might be cloned. We are gradually gaining more insight into the physical and social environments that promote knowledge worker productivity, and which cater to the knowledge workers’ preferred lifestyles.

We are now living in an era in which Technology races ahead creating new opportunities to leverage human intellect.



All above factors pose new questions and new challenges for HRD Professionals, Educators and Public and Private Institutions involved in training and development of Human Resources. The conference will address these issues in four tracks:

Track #1 Knowledge Creation and Human Resource Management

1. Strategies for development of Knowledge Workers
2. Knowledge Community and the Challenges they Impose on Training and Development Professionals
3. The Development and Transfer of Human Expertise
4. The Changing Role of Human Resource and Development Professionals
5. HRD’s Strategic Contribution to Management: Identifying Talent, Measuring Its Impact, and Designing Appropriate HRD Practices and Metrics
6. The Role for Primary and Secondary Education in Creating a New Generation of Knowledge Workers

Track #2 Fast Forward Technologies in Education & Training

1. Education and Training: Technology’s Role in Preparing Qualified Knowledge Workers
2. Advances in E-Learning and Distance Learning
3. The Digital Classroom: Simulation and Automation in Education and Training
4. Technology-Based Education’s Contribution to Life Long Learning, Just-in-Time Training and Similar Non-Traditional Educational Needs
5. Innovative Models for Educating and Training Knowledge Workers

Track #3: Socio-Economic Trends

1. Policies to Support Life Long Education and Professional Development
2. Cultural Differences in the Management and Development of Knowledge Workers
3. The role of HRD in retaining Knowledge Workers in Emerging Economies
4. Continuous Learning for Foreign Knowledge Workers
5. Development strategies to integrate local resources into the Knowledge Workforce
6. Mobility of Knowledge Workers as a Means of Knowledge Dissemination
7. Calculating the Proceed of Training on Knowledge-based Economies

Track #4 Knowledge Work Environments

1. Knowledge Cities: Building Communities for Knowledge Worker Lifestyles
2. Knowledge Clusters: Creating Environments for Innovation
3. Facilitating Innovation, Knowledge Creation and Knowledge Transfer: The Role of Universities, Research Institutions and Venture Capitalists
4. The Role of Public Policy in Promoting Innovation and Effective Knowledge Management for Economic Growth