Abstract

Intangible assets have become the main sustainable value creation of companies. Specifically, those assets which remain hidden in the accounting statement due to the difficulties in identification and measuring (ie what is called intellectual capital). Voluntary information disclosed by companies on these assets can help to reduce symmetries of information and improve information transparency among stakeholders. In this sense, annual reports are the primary tool of information disclosure that companies have for provide voluntary information. In recent years, sustainability reports have become in the main means of communication as a way to legitimize the actions of companies to their stakeholders. Thus, our aim is to explore and analyze the means of communication used by companies to provide voluntary information about their hidden intangible assets. Results obtained indicate that there has been a change in corporate information policy and sustainability reports have become the mainstay to provide information voluntarily to stakeholders as well as being a good way to provide information of intangible resources.

Abstract

Justification of its interest:  The most developed economies are based on knowledge, that is, consumption and production systems based on intellectual capital. These companies and economies have an increasingly large percentage of intangible assets and are mostly based on technological innovation. Their value, in part, is due to assets that include strategy, reputation, talent, and structural capital.

New business models through deep technologies, especially artificial intelligence, have generated new intangible assets by making knowledge explicit through the digitization of data and its processing with artificial intelligence, which will grow exponentially in the coming years. Our information, now collected in databases, has incalculable value for most organizations. Currently, companies are required to report impact reports and therefore to assess other non-purely tangible data, such as social impact, diversity, or sustainability. Although these aspects can currently be evaluated, quantified, and accounted for, few Catalan organizations actually do so.

In the field of artificial intelligence, the concept of technological deserts is discussed, cities or regions where if knowledge is not generated, there will be no possibilities for the development of the artificial intelligence economy, while others have specialization strategies to attract investments and talent and create environments friendly to innovation like Japan.

Gross Domestic Product is a static measure of economic production of goods and services but currently does not include the knowledge produced, which gives us a current but also future image of our economy. The Global Knowledge Index (GKI) emerged to assess different aspects linked to the knowledge economy such as education, research, innovation, investment, technology, and communication.

Objectives:

• Define and contextualize the importance of intangible capital in knowledge-based economies.
• Present a methodological proposal to calculate the Gross Inner Knowledge of Catalonia.
• Present a methodological proposal to calculate the value of data bases and algorythms
• Discuss the potential benefits and challenges of implementing GIK as an economic indicator.

Expected results: It is expected to demonstrate, through a pilot study conducted with several Catalan companies, how the inclusion of valuations of intangible assets can significantly alter the perception and valuation of the Catalan economy. This analysis will serve to highlight the discrepancy between traditional economic measures such as GDP and indicators that consider knowledge capital creating a new index that fits better with the new economies.

Conclusions expected to be reached: It is expected to conclude that Gross Inner Knowledge offers a more comprehensive and advanced view of the economic state and development potential of Catalonia. This can be crucial for public policies seeking to promote innovation and competitiveness in a globalized world. There will also be discussion about the need for a standardized and internationally accepted methodology for the valuation of intangible assets on a macroeconomic scale.