Innovation and Knowledge Diplomacy – the New Dimension of External Relations

Building its relations with external partners, the European Union strives to develop the most adequate capabilities for economic growth and for higher life quality of its citizens. In the new century of global competition, the expanding role of knowledge diplomacy in international politics affects and implies the European Union. In view of the fact that the effective use of scientific knowledge in external relations is highly important, this epistemic community can provide value-based legal, economic, diplomatic and cultural foundations for sustainable development and growth in the European Union. The research considers the layers of the knowledge society in which the knowledge diplomacy in external relations plays an important role for moving innovations in and out national economies of the European Union; the new diplomacy that resembles knowledge management, i.e. the knowledge management is used in diplomacy; the political actors that witness a profound transformation of diplomacy, including a paradigm shift, because the economic diplomacy is not self-sufficient for global competition, for free movement of knowledge results and innovations; the fissure that is to be tackled by know-how diplomacy and e-diplomacy for reinforcing innovative tools in international relations; the new diplomacy that pleads for an open innovation diplomacy contributing and supporting the knowledge economy; and how the knowledge diplomacy is conducive to smart growth of European society.