Knowledge Economy: How Science Communication Shapes the Future

The history of humanity can be read as a succession of revolutions in the public communication of knowledge, each driven by key figures who forever transformed the access to and exchange of information. This process, far from being purely academic, has forged increasingly democratic tools, ultimately turning the creation and distribution of knowledge into one of the most dynamic business activities on the planet. To anticipate the keys to future entrepreneurship, it is essential to explore this historical synergy between public outreach and innovation.

The First Foundations

In its origins, within primordial societies, the sharing of knowledge was a communal act. Figures such as bards, shamans, and elders were not entrepreneurs but custodians of collective memory, receiving respect and status in lieu of payment. Their work gave rise to the first intellectual abstractions guided by deductive reasoning, fostering innovation in the realm of ideas. A paradigmatic example is Homer (eighth century BCE), whose epics, “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey,” were recited to preserve the values of a civilization. Shortly thereafter, Socrates (470-399 BCE) would revolutionize teaching with his maieutic dialogue, a method designed to "give birth" to knowledge through questions, emphasizing active discovery over the mere reception of data.

The advent of writing marked the first great disruption, allowing ideas to be preserved in a tangible and lasting form. This fundamental shift gave rise to the first centers of learning, such as the Library of Alexandria (third century BCE), which centralized knowledge for the elite. Centuries later, the birth of universities like Oxford and Paris (12th century) drove unprecedented demand for manuscripts. It was this context that spawned the first proto-entrepreneurs: lay scribes who, unlike monks, sold copies of the most sought-after manuscripts in a burgeoning market. This new intellectual ecosystem of the late Middle Ages not only expanded commerce and ideas but also paved the way for the Renaissance.

Although scientific discovery was limited in these early eras, structural innovations like writing laid the groundwork for the future. The exponential increase in recorded knowledge would be reflected centuries later in the growth of global patents, which would climb from fewer than 100,000 annually in the 19th century to millions today (wipo.int).

The Birth of the Knowledge Industry

Gutenberg's printing press in the 15th century radically democratized knowledge, transforming it into a scalable industry. Entrepreneurs like Aldus Manutius not only sold books but also innovated formats to reach ever-growing markets. Centuries later, during the Enlightenment and the 19th century, this dynamic accelerated. Journals and scientific societies disseminated principles that became the foundation of the Industrial Revolution. Entrepreneurs like James Watt, for instance, applied the principles of thermodynamics — widely debated in scientific communities — to perfect the steam engine. In turn, an increasingly educated public generated new markets for everything from soap to railways.

This era was defined by figures like Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert, whose “Encyclopédie” (1751-1772) sought to compile all human knowledge to "liberate the mind," a political act of democratization. This boom in applied knowledge was reflected in the numbers: global patents grew dramatically, from a few thousand in 1800 to hundreds of thousands per decade by 1900. Concurrently, press magnates like Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst built media empires funded by advertising, creating the necessary infrastructure to deliver news on a massive scale.

From the Scientific ‘Show’ to the Audiovisual Age

Beyond the press, science communication adopted new forms. The Royal Society's lectures and the spectacular demonstrations by Michael Faraday in the 19th century introduced "science shows," popularizing science like never before. These initiatives inspired new scientists, entrepreneurs, and communicators alike, including Jules Verne, who masterfully novelized the advancements of his time, such as submarines and aeronautics, among many others, into works of popular science fiction.

Technology soon opened another frontier. Guglielmo Marconi transformed electromagnetic waves into radio, turning theoretical physics into a global business. On this foundation, corporations like NBC and the BBC built a vast audiovisual infrastructure financed by advertising, shaping the mass culture of the 20th century. In this new medium, Carl Sagan became an icon with “Cosmos” (1980), a series that combined scientific rigor with a poetic narrative to reach 500 million viewers. Scientific figures like Albert Einstein (relativity, 1905) and Marie Curie (radioactivity, 1898) also became global celebrities whose discoveries fueled countless innovations. The impact was such that by 2012, global patent applications reached 560,681, many in the field of telecommunications.

The Digital Age

The invention of the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989, and his decision to release it to the world, catalyzed the fastest era of technological development in history. The foundations laid by pioneers like Alan Turing (computing, 1936) and Grace Hopper (programming languages, 1950s) exploded into a new digital ecosystem. The growth of global patents skyrocketed, from approximately 1 million in 1995 to 3.6 million in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 10% in recent decades.

Social media soon became the epicenter of this revolution: decentralized, immediate, and bidirectional. YouTube transformed knowledge transmission with channels like “Vsauce” (Michael Stevens, 2010) and “Smarter Every Day” (Destin Sandlin, 2007), which use curiosity as a vehicle to explain science. In the Hispanic world, figures like Javier Santaolalla (“Date un Vlog,” 2013) and Martí Montferrer (“CdeCiencia,” 2014) defined the archetype of the educational YouTuber. More recently, platforms like Meta (2004) and TikTok (2016) have shown that complex concepts can be explained in under 60 seconds with humor and dynamic editing.

The COVID-19 pandemic acted as an unexpected catalyst. In the face of massive disinformation, institutional scientific figures from various governments and international organizations became central and often controversial. This phenomenon pushed the general public to use social media to seek out, debate, and translate science for themselves, consecrating independent science communicators on social media as an essential public service.

This paradigm shift is reflected in stark figures. In 2023, over 76% of social media users aged 18-34 consumed educational content weekly. The market for educational creators in Latin America grew by 37% year-over-year, while the #LearnOnTikTok tag surpassed 450 billion views. Today, over 43% of Spanish speakers primarily consume scientific information through social media, surpassing traditional media. This demand has accelerated the edtech sector, valued at US$181.3 billion in 2025 and projected to reach US$598.82 billion by 2032. In turn, the knowledge management market is projected to hit US$2.1 trillion by 2030, driving entrepreneurship via spill-over, as startups leverage shared knowledge to innovate at record speed.

Modern entrepreneurship is inseparable from this flow of knowledge. The global boom in startups since 1990 is a testament to this. Venture capital deals doubled between 2010 and 2017, with remarkable growth in Asia and Africa breaking the historical dominance of the United States. Although 90% of startups fail, the 10% that survive drive global economic growth, leveraged by AI and social media outreach. Startup-friendly policies and knowledge spill-over foster an entrepreneurial orientation that today defines the world's most competitive ecosystems.

Ultimately, the role of science communication today is that of the electric current that runs through all of society. It is the engine that powers the innovation economy, the accelerator that takes us to technological frontiers once confined to science fiction, and the complex and chaotic battlefield where our social reality and shared values are defined.

As the heir to the printing press, the entrepreneurial spirit, and the information age, its ultimate function has become profoundly Socratic. In a world saturated with answers, the true value of communicating knowledge no longer lies in providing more information, but in its capacity to inspire the right questions and to cultivate the wisdom to navigate them.