Intellectual Capital a Strategic Factor of Socio-Economic Development of Regions and Countries

Knowledge is very important resource for people, organizations, industry sectors, regions and countries. Managing knowledge and intellectual capital create new opportunities and a competitive advantage. The fortunes and values of organizations, industry sectors and regions can increase or decrease depending on how well they create, capture, and leverage their local knowledge. The goal of the paper is to exhibit the concept of intellectual capital (IC) from a country and regional perspective and define intangible assets as knowledge that can be converted into competitive advantage, value or profit. In the recent years, most of the measurement methods designed to measure IC apply at corporate level. Some efforts are being made to present the intellectual capital concept from an industry or regional perspective. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.