Universities in the service of truth and utility

The word «capital» derives from the latin «capitalis», which stands for head, or mind, suggesting that real wealth has been seen as residing in knowledge and ideas. Today the so-called information revolution makes us aware that an increasing share of our wealth, our capital, is in knowledge, in software rather than in hardware. Financial markets are linked into networks that transmit data instantaneously, and ideas transgress national borders. In such an environment those institutions that are concerned with improving the nation's human capital will be of paramount importance.