The Role of the Knowledge Economy in Supporting Sustainable Development in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Iraq

The study analyzes the role of the knowledge economy in promoting sustainable development in Iraq through a conceptual framework with four independent pillars: education, information and communications technology infrastructure, innovation, and human capital, and a dependent variable: economic, social, and environmental sustainable development. It adopts a quantitative, interpretive approach using a Likert-type questionnaire on a stratified sample of 186 respondents distributed sectorally and geographically. Constructive validity is achieved through KMO. Bartlett's model yields significant values and reliability is demonstrated with alpha coefficients ranging from 0.861 to 0.922. The demographic results describe a functional and educational composition that supports the analysis. The averages indicate a high rating for the four dimensions, with room for improvement in innovation. A multiple regression model estimates the relative impact of the dimensions and explains 61 % of the variance in sustainable development (R² = 0.610), at high significance. Human capital leads the standardized impact, followed by digital infrastructure, education, and innovation. Diagnostic tests confirm the model's suitability in terms of the normality of the residuals, independence of errors, homogeneity of variance, and the absence of significant multicollinearity. The economic analysis demonstrates that simultaneous investment in advanced skills, institutional digitization, and pilot funding increases productivity, deepens non-oil diversification, and enhances inclusion and public services. The study proposes a two-phase roadmap, institutionalizing coordination through a Higher Council for the Knowledge Economy, targeted tax incentives for training, research, and digitization, and a public dashboard for diversification, energy efficiency, and emissions indicators.